After the War, Before the Peace
by Kiwi-kiwi-kii
Summary: The war is over, Kensei's back in the ninth, and Ichigo is living life as a lieutenant. But then a disturbance in Hueco Mundo brings back Nell and, maybe, the end of the world - while the new captain of the third is forced to confront her past... 2 OCs.
1. Chapter 1

**After the War, Before the Peace**

**Tall, dark, handsome and enthusiastic, Dune's the new 5th squad captain. Hyper, blonde, and a bit wacky, Chihiro's the 3rd's new captain and she loves annoying Kensei, who's back into the Gotei with his old position. And now there's ... Ichigo-fukutaicho?**

**I know, I know. I should be working on "Crazy People, These Arrancar" (or Maybe "Gin's Games") right now, but I'm just not feeling it, so I'm taking a break from writing those for a while. Instead, I've had this plot bunny in my head for a while now, and I wanted to test it out. Those who know me know how much of a procrastinator I am, so good luck to me, LOL …Here goes!**

**(((Warning: Swearing)))**

CHAPTER ONE

~~ Featuring Shinji, Kensei, Ichigo, Rukia, and Renji ~~

"He wants _what_?" Hiyori asked incredulously.

Shinji shrugged. "Hell if I know what he's thinking. I made it clear we're not on the Gotei's side anymore, and have no intention of reconnecting old ties. So, the old man's offer was unexpected. I'm only relaying the message 'cause Urahara made me promise." Hiyori snorted in response, but her sarcastic reply was quieted with a short inquiry from Lisa: "But then again, now what?"

Seven pairs of eyes turned to stare at the slender visard. "What do you mean _now what_?" Kensei grunted gruffly. Without changing her expression, Lisa exemplified.

"Well, the war with Aizen is over. We got our revenge. What exactly were we planning on doing the rest of our lives? Personally, I don't really care either way. If I go back to the Gotei 13 … I'd be lying if I said I didn't have anyone to miss there." She was silent for a moment. "But, you guys are … my family, more than they are. I'd feel worse going without all of you then without any of them. Che…"

Rose sniffled. "So Poetic … OWCH, Love!" Said visard put his hand back down. "I agree that we need to think about this seriously."

"You guys can't _actually_ be thinking about this, right?" Hiyori demanded. "I'm not going back to the Gotei 13 even if the old man begged me!" "We know, Hiyori," Shinji drawled. "It was given as more of an individual choice. After all, there are three open captain's positions. Yamamoto probably figured one or two of us would accept and the rest would stay in the human world –"

"What, split up?" Mashiro whined. "I don't wanna!" "Quiet down!" Kensei barked. "You don't have to go anywhere you don't want, but you can't control other people, so just shut up already." "Kensei, so meeeaaannnn…"

Outside, it was dark. Shinji had just come back from a surprise call from Urahara in the middle of the night, and the news he brought certainly wasn't anything that the visards had been expecting. A sudden offer from the head captain: There were three empty captain's positions, and they needed filling. How's about forgetting the past and moving forwards?

Well, not in those exact words, naturally. But that was the gist of it.

Hacchi looked into the distance. "I prefer being in the human world, but I would not mind being in the kido cores again." Shinji nodded and looked to Love and Rose. The latter sighed.

"Well, are we really going to have to decide right now? How melancholy. I'm still shocked the offer came in the first place. What about us being part hollow and all?"

"The central 46 is dead, and from what Urahara said, it sounds like they aren't going to be coming back anytime soon," Shinji stated with finality. "Looks like Aizen did one good thing at least; it seems to me that those guys never helped with anything at all. Maybe the Head Captain really is starting to break away from the old traditions and get some common sense. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?" He chuckled at his own joke.

Rose closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, he announced, "I'm not going back to the Gotei 13. It just doesn't seem right for me."

"Me neither," Love added. "I couldn't readjust to that."

Hiyori whipped around and crossed her arms. "Hell no!"

Shinji rolled his eyes. "Three no's, and one maybe for Hacchi. You guys?" He asked nodding to Lisa, Mashiro, and Kensei. Lisa was silent, leaning against the wall, and it didn't look like she would be talking any time soon. Shinji, knowing that she was probably torn over being able to see her old captain and Nanao again, decided to move on. _Taking the initiative is a good way to start…_

"I guess me, myself, I don't really want to be back –" "I'm not going." Shinji blinked. It was Mashiro who had interrupted him, and she didn't have her usual peppy energy about her. She was staring hard at nothing in particular, but when she started taking next, it sounded like she was addressing Kensei.

"I can't always be following people around. I've been hanging on to what's familiar, but it's time I stopped that. From now on, I'm going to be doing things more on my own."

"….doesn't she do that already?" Love muttered to Rose, who shrugged. Kensei, however, picked up on her tone.

"What, you mean me? Always following me? Yea, but it's not like you're a dependent kind of girl. Hell, you took out at least half a dozen menos and that big-ass blue thing by yourself. And even I couldn't stop that Wonderweiss freak. So…"

"But you've already made your decision, right, Kensei?" Mashiro asked quietly. The change in her usual demeanor was a bit unsettling. Most of the visards were staring at her.

Suddenly, "What's that mean?" Hiyori asked loudly. "Made his decision? Kensei, are you actually thinking of going back?" Kensei didn't reply at first. When he did, it was in a more normal tone of voice.

"I don't know what it is exactly. You guys can't picture yourself in the new Gotei 13, I guess, but maybe I can. Or it might be that after all that, settling down for good is the thing that just doesn't seem right to me. Not having something to work towards or for? That's something I hate. I don't want to live doing nothing. So, yea, I guess I've made my decision. And I've surprised myself. This is a different answer than I would have given if you had asked me before the war."

Shinji nodded, and then looked to the side where Lisa was standing back up from her leaning position. She didn't face him, but said, "I don't know for sure if I want to go back or not, permanently. But I think I'm gonna pay an old visit to … some people from the Seireitei. See ya."

"Oi! Lisa!" Hiyori yelled. Lisa's figure vanished with a ruffle from her flash step. "Damn it! Always disappearing like that!"

Meanwhile, Love had walked over to Kensei and clapped his hand over the man's shoulder. "Good luck, mate. Visit, got it?" Kensei gave a gruff smile and said "Yea."

He didn't notice Mashiro leave the room.

Love's farewell was the cue for the others to start dispersing. Shinji walked with Kensei out of the shop, Urahara's shop as the destination (naturally, the shopkeeper was the one who was providing the travel).

"I didn't think you'd accept the offer," Shinji said suddenly. "You surprised me too." Kensei just nodded. Shinji stared at him from the corner of his eye for a while, then put his hands behind his head and sighed. Kensei gave something that could probably be better classified as something between a bark and a cough than a chuckle, but Shinji got the intent.

As they approached the shop, Kensei turned to Shinji with an inquiry. "What _are _you planning on doing now?" Shinji sighed again.

"Not entirely sure. Keeping the town safe from hollows, I guess. Karakura Town might need the extra hand, it I interpreted something else that Urahara hinted at correctly." Kensei frowned. Well, frowned deeper than usual. "Why's that? Unusual hollow activity?"

"No, nothing like that. It's just that … the town's resident Substitute Shinigami might not be around this place much anymore. Then again, I doubt that he'll accept the offer … well, then again, you surprised me… who knows, eh?" Kensei growled. "Stop talking in riddles, dammit!"

Shinji laughed. "I bet you'll know soon enough. Farewell." They had arrived at the small shop. Kensei gave an angry exhalation, but nodded and waved, without turning back to look at Shinji, who was slouching with his hands in his pockets.

He looked at the sky. It was nearing dawn, but Shinji didn't feel like going to bed anytime soon.

"I wonder what Ichigo's doing right now…"

* * *

><p>"GOOOOOODDDDD MOOOORNIIIING, IIIICHIGOOOOOOOOO!"<p>

WHAMPH.

Kurosaki Isshin's protest was muffled by the pillow that his son had just shoved halfway down his throat.

"WHAT THE HELL, OLD MAN! IT'S NOT EVEN FIVE THIRTY! DON'T BE YELLING SO LOUD THIS EARLY! YOU'LL WAKE THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD!"

"The pot calling the kettle black, strawberry."

Ichigo's eyes widened and he pushed his (smothered and twitching) father aside, looking for the owner of the cool voice.

She was standing in his doorway, arms crossed, in full shinigami robes. She gave him a familiar smirk.

Ichigo returned the gesture. "Hey, Rukia. I didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon. Aren't you stationed in the Soul Society for a while?"

After Aizen had been defeated in a brilliant joint effort of Isshin, Urahara, and Ichigo, things had slowly been returning back to normal. Many Soul reapers (the lieutenants and other officers of the third, fifth and ninth, and Matsumoto, especially) were a bit disheartened after the war, but thing in general were holding up well. Orihime had volunteered to help with the healing of the Soul Reapers, which made things go much smoother than they otherwise would have. Toshiro had thanked her for healing Hinamori, who otherwise would have needed months in the fourth division, and undoubtedly special care from the scientists in the twelfth, before she had made a full recovery. Ichigo found himself marveling at his friend's superior healing ability… and her inability to say no. Ishida had to literally drag the busty girl away from a healing center so that she could get some rest and dinner before she collapsed.

Ichigo couldn't help but notice that Ishida hadn't let Orihime out of his sight after that incident. Curious.

Back in reality, Rukia's grin was widening. It occurred to Ichigo that she must know something he didn't.

"I am. I'm not staying here. I haven't even picked up a gigai." She paused.

"Maybe you want to stop that before your dad dies."

Ichigo looked down. He was still pressing the pillow on his father's face, and Isshin wasn't twitching anymore, either. "Shit." Ichigo threw the pillow across the room.

A new voice sounded in the room. "Wow, you really are an idiot, aren't you?" "RENJI!" Ichigo yelled, surprised. Said lieutenant laughed from where he was crouching; in Ichigo's window.

"What are YOU doing here?" Ichigo asked his fried. Renji looked to Rukia. "You haven't told him yet?" "I was just about to," Rukia sniffed. "You interrupted me."

Renji jumped down from the window and gave a low bow. "I apologize, oh great and mighty third seat of the 13th division." Rukia just grinned in response.

Ichigo stopped poking his father (who was passed out, apparently) to stare at Rukia. "…No way."

"Way," was her response. "Well, geeze," Ichigo said. "Congrats. But did you come from the Sould Society just to tell me that?" "Nope," Renji said. "We're here to give you a test an a choice. Don't think I'll go easy on you, either."

Ichigo paused as this sunk in. "Wait, what? Go easy? A choice? What are you – GAH!" The substitute shinigami leapt aside as his friend suddenly sprung forwards in a punch that would have connected squarely with Ichigo's jaw. Behind him, Rukia pulled out a familiar glove and sprung at him as well – this punch he didn't avoid.

Ichigo's spirit body sailed across the room and straight out the open window, just as Rukia planned. His human body slumped on the floor across from his father's, who opened one of his eyes at Rukia.

"Good luck," he said. "Tell me how does." "Yessir," Rukia replied.

After the war, Rukia had learned a bit about Kurosaki Isshin's rather …. unique position from her captain. But, it wasn't her story to tell or to know, so she mostly left it alone.

Meanwhile, Renji had jumped out the window after Ichigo, yelling "First test! Start!"

Rukia smiled as she heard something that sounded vaguely like 'what the hell you crazy bastard' in response.

Ah, yes. Life was good.


	2. Chapter 2

**After the War, Before the Peace**

CHAPTER TWO

~~ Featuring Chihiro, Rukia, Ichigo, Matsumoto and Hitsugaya ~~

"_Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man. _

_Bake me a cake as fast as you can; _

_Pat it and prick it and mark it with a 'Chi', _

_Put it in the oven for birdy and me."_

A high, girlish voice rang out, singing a slightly altered version on an old English rhyme. Music and poetry had always fascinated her – especially the ones from the World of the Living. Whatever you might say about humans, they could make some cute songs.

"_Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man. _

_Bake me a cake as fast as you can; _

_Roll it up, roll it up; And throw it in a pan! _

_Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man."_

"WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY."

Turning to her leader, she girl – or was she a woman? – pouted. "You're so mean, Aki."

Family name: Chiaki, meaning "one thousand lights". Given name: Chihiro, meaning "one thousand questions". Zanpakutou name: Chiraidori, meaning "one thousand lightning birds". Sensing a pattern here?

This was Chiaki Chihiro, currently a member of squad two's Advanced Patrol on a mission involving the elimination of some high-level hollows. Adjuchas-class menos high, in fact.

She is, at certain things, the best of the best … but probably the worst ninja in the second division, which is why she's stationed far away in a Patrol squad, and not in the Seireitei goofing off in front of her captain. She never does things halfway and tends to act first, think later. She can't hold her alcohol, but doesn't need it anyway; the thought of adding the giddiness of sake to Chiaki's usual personality makes those who know her cringe. She loves to sing. And she sucks at it.

A fact which doesn't seems to get through her rather thick head, no matter how much Patrol Leader Akira – to Chiaki he's Aki, because Aki and Chiaki rhyme – tries to hammer it into her.

He really, really, really wishes he could. Ninjas aren't supposed to sing, dammit. Or give each other headaches.

Then again, most of the second division ninjas weren't 5'11, rather well-endowed, possessing pink-iris eyes and bleach-blonde hair (Akira remembered the day she reported for duty with her usually black hair dyed blonde – her excuse being that she was too pale for dark hair. Sort of true) cut shaggily around her head, with six thin strands trailing down to her knees, clasped with silver beads right below her neck.

Akira sighed, closing his own (also pink) eyes, remembering the day he gave her those beads, when they were kids.

Sure, she was hyper and usually annoying, but she was still an irreplaceable member of his team and…

No. She WOULD have to be replaced. This was her last day in the Advanced Patrol. That's right.

He'd miss her, he supposed.

It would be nice to have it quiet again, though. He'd have more peace and control with her gone. Those were some of the things he loved the most about his job, stationed away from the Seiretei.

Still. He was used to her, always being around. Always. Chiako – a nickname he gave her that he used merely because it annoyed her (Chiaki Chihiro could be confusing at times) was a unique Soul Reaper, and definitely a benefit to the team … well, usually.

There _was_ that time when she knocked herself out with her own sword sheath...

But that was a long time ago, and (he hoped) she had gotten more coordinated since then. More coordinated, at least, (hopefully) if not more mature and responsible. She definitely wasn't those. (Oh hell no.)

But … He hoped she would learn in her new position, how to be a responsible captain. (Akira's zapnpakutou spirit was laughing at him now, and his naïve thoughts.) It was unbelievable - A captain, really. Chiako as a captain. It was a hard concept to get, that SHE (_his _Chiako!) was going to be one of those big-shot captains.

But she had passed the captains test, so she was capable, right? (_Powerful and capable_, as his Zanpakutou reminded him,_ are two different things_.)

...Okay. So the captains must be desperate.

Yea, she was strong. She wasn't like most _people_, let along most ninjas. Most people around here didn't sing human nursery rhymes horribly out of key, or have a lightning based sword that could take down a menos grande in one hit, if the hit was well-placed.

But the point was, she had stayed in his team for so long because she really lacks the… _capability_ of leading. Of leading well, at least. What the hell were they thinking? Choosing THAT Chihiro, who was currently…

Oh.

What the hell was she doing now?

"CHIAKI DAMMIT come down NOW!" His officer looked down from where she was balancing precariously on the top of a very tall pine tree. He didn't need to see her exact expression to know that she was sticking her tongue out at him.

Akira felt bad for whoever was going to be her lieutenant. He'd certainly have a hell of a time reining the self-proclaimed 'lighting queen' in. He snorted.

Captain or not, 'lightning queen' or not, she'd always be little, clumsy, _spazzy_ Chiako to him.

She was his little sister, after all.

Damn it, he was going to miss her.

* * *

><p>"Congratulations, third test passed," Renji grunted, from his position on the ground, in a park a short distance away from Ichigo's house, with said teen pinning his arms down.<p>

"What the hell was that for, Renji?" Ichigo demanded.

"Talk later. Last test now," Rukia said. With Ichigo distracted, Renji pushed him over, sprang up and grabbed both his and Ichigo's swords that Rukia tossed him, and flash stepped away with a grin but without a single word.

"HEY! Get back here! You -! Rukia, what the hell is going on!"

"You passed the swordplay, strategizing, and finally hand-to-hand combat sections with flying colors. We already knew you would, though. Now comes the one you're going to have to learn from scratch. I wonder how well you'll be able to do this – still lacking the finer points of control, Ichigo? I hope not! …_ Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation…_"

"Okay, WHAT is going on? I mean seriously. First Renji attacks me, then you two tag team me, then he goes at me again but without his sword. And you stole mine! And now HE stole it! …wait a minute, what are you saying…?"

"…_inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges…"_

"…Rukia, are you … oh crap, that's –!"

"**Hadō #31! **Shakkahō!"

"Shit!"

The red ball of energy blasted, creating a smoking crated where Ichigo had been a second beforehand.

"MIDGET BITCH!" Ichigo shouted. Rukia twitched. "Oh you are DEFINITELY getting it. **Hadō #33, **Sōkatsui!" "Aw, crap. Ungh!" Ichigo barely dodged, rolling across the grass and behind a tree. Panting, he sat up.

"Don't think that that's gonna hide you! You've gotta hit me back eventually, because I'm not going to stop this until you get me or you're unconscious! Sōkatsui!"

Ichigo rolled away from the tree, sprang up, and started running in a wide arc, looking for some cover. Unfortunately, they were in a mostly empty park (had Renji lured him here in their last fight on purpose?), and he was just a big black-and-orange target for his (obviously insane) raven-haired and unfortunately gifted-in-kido friend.

Something occurred to Ichigo. "Hit you back? You want me to punch you? I can't get near you if you keep firing lasers at me, idiot!" Or was that the point? Exploit her openings, more strategizing?

Or maybe it was more straightforward. Take the Kido head-on. Endurance testing?

BAM. Another red ball of energy left a crater in the earth.

Okay, forget that last idea. Only use it if desperate.

"I don't want you to _punch _me, idiot!" she shouted back. "AND IT'D KIDO! Not lasers. That's the POINT!_ Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!"_

"Crap. Which one is this, the blue laser or the red energy ball? They both start the same!" _"On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens." _"Huh? Wait what?" "**Hadō #73! Sōren Sōkatsui!"**

This one hit Ichigo squarely, and he was thrown back, astonished at the power behind the kido. He crashed back into the ground, stunned, unable to move.

"You can't get near me to hit me. _So use kido!_"

Right, of course. Use Kido, fine, he'd show her, bossing him around like that… Okay, so, kido…

Wait.

What?

She wanted him to cast a kido spell? But he had no idea how.

_And why on earth was she doing this?_

"**Hadō #31! **Shakkahō!"

Oh, crap.

* * *

><p>"What do you think, taicho?"<p>

"About what?" Hitsugaya answered, his eyes on the pile of paperwork on his desk.

…The pile of paperwork that his lieutenant was most certainly not helping to diminish. Sadly, this was not surprising. You could say it happened all the time.

"About the attempts to fill in the missing captain's positions. It's a bit sudden, don't you think? Especially after the Amagai incident…"

Hitsugaya flinched at that. The man had made a fool of the Seiretei, and certainly had not helped in getting any of the captain-less officers to feel trusting about any newcomers. Sure, some of his teachings, especially about banding together more, were still valued, and it turns out the man wasn't a complete traitor, just very confused about certain events that had happened long ago.

But still. It hadn't been a good thing, that … incident, as Matsumoto called it.

He looked up at his lieutenant, who was lounging on the couch. He briefly considered attempting to get her to do something productive (there was an awful lot of paperwork) but then, she didn't "work very well in this kind of environment", or at least, that was her latest excuse. _I'm more of a hands-on type of girl, field work, you know._

Her captain was fairly sure this was a blatant lie.

"…Taicho? You're zoning. And you just twitched a little. Maybe you should take a break. You've been working way to hard recently."

"Cheh." Putting his brush down, Hitsugaya regarded his Lieutenant. "You're not helping that, you know."

"Yea, well, I'm more of a hands-on –" "Oh shut up."

Matsumoto pouted, then went back to questioning.

"But really, it's unexpected, don't you think? I get that it's important that the ranks are filled, but now that the war is over, it shouldn't be so urgent, right? It's not like we have any other big enemies, besides the hollows, but that's nothing new. And the hollows aren't smart enough to look for cracks in our defenses. IS there something else going on?"

Her captain was silent for a moment, then said lowly, "There's been some strange activity in Hueco Mundo lately, yes. Teams of the second and twelfth division shinigami were sent to investigate; they'll be due back tomorrow. It's nothing to get excited about over, just larger than normal amounts of reiryoku in the menos forest that might lead to stronger hollows."

Matsumoto blinked. "Large amounts of spirit power? Where is it coming from?"

"Well, if we knew, we wouldn't be so concerned. That's what the team is trying to figure out. Probably it's just a freak thing, nothing to worry about."

"If it's nothing to worry about, then why are we so desperate to get the empty positions filled? I heard a member of the Advanced Patrol was called in, and a message was sent out to the world of the living … does that mean Urahara and Yourichi?"

"They were both given offers and declined. I'm not sure about the details, but I think the group calling themselves the visards – that masked bunch who came to help us in the war – were contacted also."

"Eh? Them?" Matsumoto stared off in thought. "I never got to see them much. But they sure took down that army of menos! They seem really strong. Think any of 'em'll take up the challenge?"

"I doubt it. They're just as independent of the Gotei as Urahara is."

"Oh."

Hitsugaya took back his brush and began writing once more. There was a short silence, and then a hell butterfly flew into the room. Matsumoto extended her finger, expecting it to land, but it flew past her and went to her captain's desk instead. _A private message? I wonder what it's about._

She became more curious when her captain's eyebrows raised and he got up from his desk. "What is it, captain?" He walked to the door and paused.

"You stay here for a while, and work on that paperwork." "But I d–" "No buts! I'll be gone for a while. The head captain wants me to oversee a captain's promotion test."

"Eeeehhhh? Another one? Wasn't there just one a week ago? Two captains is a week?"

"Maybe. If the guy passes." "Which divisions are they for?" "I don't know." "You never told me the other guy's name, the person who passed." "Well, I don't know that either." "Well, geeze, taicho! Okay, how about the guy you're seeing now?"

Hitsugaya paused. "Apparently his name is Shin, Dune Shin. He used to be a higher seat of the thirteenth division, but he's been an irregular instructor at the academy for a while, teaching strategy and improvisation. That's all I know. I'm leaving now. Do that paperwork."

"Awww."

Her captain left the room.

She sighed. It was too quiet with him gone now.

She had been trying not to be alone for long periods of time, after the war. She was not going to go into seclusion. Matsumoto Rangiku was not the kind of person to be outwardly pining and depressive over something like that.

So she refused to touch her necklace and she refused to think of him, and she reused to stop moving forwards.

_Because that's what you'd want me to do, right, Gin?_


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

~~ Featuring Dune, Hitsugaya, Kensei, Unohana, and Kyoraku~~

**It's a bit of a slower chapter, as Unohana and Kyoraku have to give a rather long explanation of reiryoku and reiatsu and the mysterious happenings in Hueco Mundo to Kensei. I considered splitting into two chapters, actually, but it just didn't flow as well. **

**Anyway: first, let's meet Dune! Cause pretty soon (rhyme, yea) the lieutenants are meeting their new captains. Next chapter, actually. Those scenes are fun but kind of hard to write. You know? …no? Aw, forget it.**

**OH. I don't own bleach. ;)**

He was tall for the average soul reaper, probably about five foot ten.

His hair was smooth; a soft tone of black, parted above his right eye and falling into his left slightly. His eyes were a strange light brown, almost-gold color. He was lightly tanned, but didn't have a very outdoorsy appearance. He looked completely relaxed.

Well, except for the fact that he was holding a red rose, picking the petals off one by one, and systematically tearing each one into five equal pieces before letting the breeze carry them away. It looked to be a long-practiced nervous habit, if Hitsugaya perceived the gesture correctly, and he was usually good at picking up things like that.

Behind the man (who couldn't be anyone other than Dune Shin) stood the captain of the thirteenth division, Ukitake Jushiro, and the Captain Commander himself. The latter was the one who broke the brief silence.

"Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro of the tenth division," – Hitsugaya assumed that he was being introduced for the benefit of Dune – "Welcome. Now that you've arrived, let the captain's approval test begin."

Hitsugaya noticed that Dune slid the rose, whose petals were about one-third gone, into his uniform rather than discarding it.

"Ready, sir," Dune replied to the head captain in a light voice.

And so, it began.

* * *

><p>"Unohana-san, Kyoraku-san, I wasn't expecting you two here. Wasn't it the head captain who called me?" Kensei asked as he walked into Yamamoto's large office.<p>

"Ah, here's our man! It's good to see you outside of the battlefield, after all these years," Kyoraku responded jovially.

"True, right now old man Yama and Hitsugaya-taicho are overseeing another captain promotion test – which is something you don't need to take – so we'll have to do for now."

"Another one?" Kensei muttered. "Didn't you people just test out some member of the Patrol force?"

Unohana nodded serenely. "And now you're here, to hopefully turn that 'you people' into a 'we', if I've interpreted your being here correctly." Kensei nodded an affirmative, and Kyoraku gave a hearty chuckle.

"Glad to hear it, old friend. I must say, I didn't really expect … any of the 'masked army' to respond to the offer, but I'm happy I was wrong. It still came as a surprise, though."

"YOU were surprised?" Kensei asked incredulously, ignoring the slight hesitation Kyoraku slipped through. Weird. "Where did the sudden change of heart come from, anyway? I thought all the visards, for having hollow powers, were outcasts from the soul society. Permanently."

Unohana cast her eyes downwards. "The loss of the central 46 has opened the captains' eyes, as a whole, to a number of events. The substitute soul reaper, Kurosaki Ichigo, also possesses these abilities – and, he has indeed saved the soul society, as well as his own world, a number of times. After the first, his … questionable abilities were overlooked in favor of the support he could provide, and he was awarded his status as a Substitute.

"Likewise, we have now decided that it is time to put old conventions aside in favor of building much needed strength. If you are powerful enough, and loyal to the soul society, it is no longer an issue of whether your powers come from purely shinigami means, or if you have been strengthened in another fashion." She gave a kind smile. "It's time to admit that we were being needlessly old-fashioned, and awfully thickheaded about it."

Kensei couldn't entirely suppress the grin that formed on his lips. Unohana was probably one of the only captains who wouldn't have much trouble admitting something like that, so it was best to not make a big deal out of it.

Looks like Shinji (or Urahara depending on your point of view) was right. No more 46.

…Suddenly, it occurred to Kensei that Lisa was probably at the eighth division's barracks right now.

She had departed through the Senkaimon right before he did, according to the aforementioned shopkeeper. Most likely she was taking advantage of her captain … previous captain … maybe future captain, once again, depending on any future decisions se might… oh forget it. She was using the fact that Kyoraku wasn't there to talk to Nanao, he was betting.

Or else she was wondering why the hell he wasn't there. It didn't look like Kyoraku had gotten to speak to Lisa after the war, today or otherwise. He probably didn't even know she was here yet.

Was he thinking of when he _didn't really expect any of the 'masked army' to respond to the offer?_

Before Kensei could mention anything – "But wait, there's more!" Kyoraku sang, tipping his hat slightly.

"Of course there's more, there's always more with you," Kensei scoffed. Really, the man never seemed to know when to quit. True, there was a lot hidden under that habitual flamboyant mask Kyoraku wore (in a very literal sense, as both his pink – _pink! _– kimono and his straw hat had been known to aid him in battle), but Kensei occasionally forgot the hidden depths this man possessed in favor of being annoyed with him.

It was a recurring theme is Kensei's life. He was pretty sure some mischievous, taunting god, somewhere, was watching him and laughing. But he tried not to think about it too much.

"Before now, the central 46 was acting as our supreme law and order, and they had little connections with the captains, or indeed the entire outside world. That had to be changed. I suppose you could say that old man Yama has been acting as a stand-in for them, but it's not easy for one man to take up a task that forty-six people had previously been sharing."

Kensei nodded at Kyoraku's words. Managing the day-to-day duties must be hard enough for the head captain, but taking the pressure of being the sole commander and decision maker, on behalf of the entire soul society? That was pushing it.

Kyoraku continued, "We're making something of a democracy now; not for the entire soul society, but amongst the captains. Eh, it's a start." Kensei blinked. A democracy? It was all rather sudden…

"But, Muguruma-san, it's time to dispense with the pleasantries. If you'd like, we can go more in-depth on it later. There's something a bit more pressing that we have to talk about."

All thoughts of Lisa, mischievous taunting gods and politics vanished from the visard's mind as he heard Unohana's suddenly very serious voice.

"Did something happen?" He growled. Maybe there was another reason why the captains – why _we_, Kensei reminded himself; he was one of them now – were trying to gather forces so hurriedly. Something was up.

"Yes and no. Sort of, but not yet, anyway. At least, not really." Damn kimono wearing silvertounge, couldn't he talk straight and be serious about _anything_?

Kyoraku saw the familiar irritation on Kensei's face and chuckled. "Sorry. Couldn't resist." _Honestly._ Shunsui hadn't changed at all, had he?

"Kyoraku-san does have a point, however. We aren't entirely sure what's going on, but it's worth being worried about merely for the fact that it is such a mystery." If Unohana didn't have Kensei's attention before, she had it now. "Recently, there was an unusual surge in the concentration of spiritual power in a certain part of the menos forest. This alone would merit investigating; however, there is an additional circumstance that is motivating the captains to action. Twelfth division captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri has been thoroughly investigating the incident personally, but we haven't found anything conclusive."

"What's this 'additional circumstance' you mentioned?" Kensei said, his brow creasing in a deeper-than-usual frown.

"The reiryoku that is being found in large amounts," Kyoraku elaborated, "is only subtly different, but still very much alien in comparison to the usual spirit power found naturally in Hueco Mundo."

Kensei blinked in surprise for the second time at the brief gathering. "Alien? What's that supposed to mean? Reiryoku is reiryoku. How can it be strange?"

Unohana shook her head. "There _are_ different types of reiryoku, theoretically speaking. Technically, it would be more accurate to say that it's all the same 'base' reiryoku that can be slightly altered in many different ways. That's why when you sense something's spiritual pressure, you can tell if it is a human, a hollow, a soul reaper, etcetera. Spiritual pressure could be described as 'personal' spiritual power, I suppose." Kensei nodded. He knew all this already.

"But spiritual pressure – _reiatsu,_ is different from_ reiryoku _– the spiritual pressure that we are talking about, right?" He asked.

"Well, yes and no. Reiatsu is more like the physical force of a person's reiryoku, which is wild and untamed, whereas reiatsu can be channeled and used by spiritual beings. Reiryoku constantly leaks out from beings with spiritual power, but can still be controlled. Think of it as the difference between a raw lightning bolt and useable electricity. The point here is: reiatsu comes from reiryoku."

"Ok, I get that." He paused. "...Wait, how do you guys in soul society know about electricity? I thought all the computers and stuff ran on kido."

"But back to my original point about the different _types_ of reiatsu and, more relevantly, reiryoku."

"But what about –"

"Every spiritual being has a unique pattern to his or her emitted Reiryoku, as you know."

Did she just blow him off? … And was that Kyoraku trying not to laugh at him? And why was he asking so many stupid questions?

"It changes firstly in the most basic way, depending on the 'setting', I suppose you could say, that the soul is in. Meaning, all _hollows_ have different but similar reiryoku, and therefore different but similar reiatsu. The same can be said of _Shinigami_. What type of soul you possess determined the 'base' of your reiryoku and reiatsu. Secondly, changes in mood or physical state can alter reiryoku and reiatsu. This is much harder for the average soul reaper to detect."

Kensei nodded at this. He had never been good at the finer parts of the art, but Unohana, as the head of the medical division that specialized in healing and kido, would be an expert.

"But this reiryoku didn't have that kind of change."

Kensei frowned again. "You mean the fine-detail change?"

"No. I mean, that first 'base' change had never happened."

"What?"

Unohana looked as if the subject was confusing her, as well. "This reiryoku … is more pure than any other reiryoku you could sense anywhere else. It has no form. It does not belong to human, nor hollow, nor soul reaper, nor something in between – nor any other type of being, as we can sense. _It has not been changed._ It has not been specialized." Unohana paused.

"And we have no idea where it's coming from."

Kyoraku stepped in. "Of all the places to appear, the middle of the menos forest in Hueco Mundo isn't exactly a comforting place, especially since it makes studying it so hard. With every sample taken, there's a risk of a high-level hollow attacking. Not to even mention that the middle of a hollow-infested forest is the last place you'd expect to find pure reiryoku … Not that we were expecting to find it in the first place. Oh, there's one more thing as well. The amount is gradually increasing."

"Right," Kensei muttered. "…wait, what?"

Kyoraku lowered his head so his hat covered his eyes. "More and more pure reiryoku is turning up." Kensei raised his eyebrows.

"Naturally, it's not like it's just staying and forming a giant ball of energy in the middle of the menos forest; it's dissipating slightly," Kyoraku continued. "But reiatsu attracts reiryoku, and reiryoku attracts more reiryoku. That's why we can sense it in the first place."

"Well, then obviously the pure reiryoku is attracting _more_ pure reiryoku." Problem solved.

"Not exactly. It doesn't work like that."

Bastard liked to make life difficult for himself, didn't he?

"A hollow's unused reiryoku will float over Hueco Mundo until it is eaten by lesser hollows; it usually doesn't stick to hollows for long. But there's an abundance of hollow reiryoku in Hueco Mundo … there's no reserve of pure reiryoku for the other pure reiryoku to draw on. It's literally coming out of thin air."

"That's impossible."

"Exactly! And therein lies our problem," Kyoraku finished dramatically. Kensei gritted his teeth.

"Well, there's also that the pure reiryoku is slightly unstable, as it is not 'fixed' to a certain 'base', and may destroy all of Hueco Mundo if left unchecked," Unohana said casually.

"…and that would undoubtedly cause some major problems for the soul society and the world of the living, seeing as the new hollows that form from souls would have no choice but to remain in the human world or come to soul society." She finished in a matter-of-fact manner.

Silence.

"So, basically, if we don't get this freaky reiryoku gone, or else change it so it has a 'base', the world of the living and the soul society will become overridden by hundreds of hollows."

"Hundreds of thousands of hollows," Unohana corrected the light-haired visard.

"Oh. I see. Well, THAT'S OBVIOUSLY A BIT MORE THAN THAT _'YES AND NO, SORT OF' _A PROBLEM, DON'T YOU THINK?"

Kyoraku scratched his chin. "You you know, I suppose the 'at least, not really' thing may have been a bit of an understatement, looking back."

"Ya think? Maybe we should tell some people about this, maybe, I dunno, DO SOMETHING?"

"And what do you propose we do?" Unohana asked while sporting a very calm smile.

Kensei looked at her blankly for a moment.

"Oh. That's right. The scientists are already on it, huh? But wait, what about the 'nothing conclusive' thing… what do we do if they _can't _find an answer?"

"… … yea, we're working on that one," Kyoraku said.

Kensei had a strong urge to slap his forehead. Or maybe slap Kyoraku's forehead. Or nose. With his fist. Just maybe. _He's one of the oldest captains, one of the strongest captains; he isn't REALLY this much of an idiot. Probably... maybe. _

_Okay so just one punch, right?_

"Don't worry too much, Muguruma-san," Unohana interrupted his thoughts. "We're in no immediate danger. The current rate of the reiryoku's growth is rather slow, and there would need to be a great deal more of it before it imploded."

Imploded. Great. Ah, well.

"But right now, you have to pick up your captain's haori, go to your barracks to get a package that was dropped for you – don't ask me what it is, it's from someone called Mashiro apparently –, say hi to your old squad and new lieutenant, and come drinking with us, preferably in that order! Not that I wouldn't mind drinking first, it's just that you tend to make a better impression while not drunk. Well, a less loud impression, it we're talking strictly about you... Actually, a couple glasses of sake probably couldn't hurt, as a good-luck wish, you know; I seem to remember that you could really put back your alcohhhhOW-ch."

Kensei eyed Unohana, who seemed to have simply pinched Kyoraku, gently behind the ear.

Captain Kyoraku was now lying unconscious on the floor.

Come to think of it, things hadn't changed that much after all, had they?

Wait, okay, the man was right. "Captains haori?" He inquired of Unohana (he was trying to pretend like he didn't see her calmly knock out one of the oldest captains with a pinch). "It should be in your barracks, I suggest you go retrieve it, along with that package Kyoraku mentioned." "Yes, ma'am." Package? From Mashiro? What the heck could that be about? Oh yea, and –

"I'm not entirely caught up on the things around here – who's the current lieutenant?" Unohana smiled. "Hisagi Shuuhei. I'm sure you'll enjoy working together." Wait, did she know something he didn't? What was with that smile? Then again, she always smiled.

Even when knocking people out with Pinches.

Still, though, it sounded familiar …

Ah, well, he's go see whatever it was that Mashiro sent him, first. Normally he'd leave it for later – meeting his old/new squad would take priority – but he had to retrieve his captain's haori anyway. _If she sent his something goofy or embarrassing, he'd have to…_

* * *

><p>Kensei stared at the open package on his bed, in his oldnew captain's barracks. It had been a long, thin box. Inside it had been a bunch of colorful tissue paper and two very familiar black pieces of fabric.

There had been no note. Just his name and her signature on the perfectly white box.

He took the two fingerless gloves out of the box and pulled them on.

He hadn't worn these for over a hundred years. They felt familiar but strange at the same time.

Dammit, Mashiro. Where had she even found these? He thought he had discarded them long ago, as an unwanted memory-of-the-past-made-solid. He had forgotten about them, actually.

He'd have to thank her sometime.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

**We get a bit of an action/fighting scene with some menos this chapter, with both of the two captains/lieutenants meeting each other in the next chapter. (Originally it was supposed to be this one, but it got a bit too long XP) ****…On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know how to pronounce 'Adjuchas'? O.o**

**Chiaki's Zanpakutou attack means "Lightning Arrow: Compass**

~~ Featuring Ichigo, Rukia, Ukitake, Chiaki, and Kensei ~~

The sun was beginning to set, peacefully, over the small park in the outskirts of Karakura town…

"Damn it. Dammit dammit dammit dammit, I HATE YOU, CHIBI!"

"Is that any way to be talking right now, Ichigo?" Rukia said, while trying not to laugh. Okay, that was a lie, she was laughing openly.

The newly appointed third seat was taking a quick break from shooting kido at her tall, orange-haired friend for two reasons: one, they had been at this literally from mid-morning to what was now becoming evening and she was pretty tired, and two… she wanted to poke fun at him. Maybe even give him some (more) pointers, seeing as he was doing so badly.

She hadn't expected it was going to be easy; Ichigo had never excelled at the finer points of soul reaper skills like reiatsu control. Still, she had expected him to make _some_ better progress by now. Maybe she just wasn't explaining it right.

"Shut up. Just … shut up," Ichigo panted from his position – lying spread-eagle on the grass, exhausted from running from his (obviously insane) friend who had been shooting lightning bolts at him all day.

"Your attempts at kido might actually be worse than what I've seen from Renji," Rukia mused. "Still, though, you're going to have to learn the basics. And you tend to learn better with hands-on training rather than lecturing, though I've been doing both. So basically, I'll sum that up as 'you're a hopeless idiot', alright?"

Ichigo hissed something at Rukia that she would certainly never say in front of her brother.

"Why do I have to learn this anyway? I've been doing fine without kido before! I didn't need kido to beat Aizen!" "No, but you needed your dad and Urahara," Rukia pointed out. Ichigo was silent for a moment, probably musing about the very close-call battle. Rukia took advantage of the silence to casually remark,

"And before, you didn't have possibility of becoming a lieutenant in question. Better know at least the basics so you can set an example for your squad. Okay, ready? Here we go!"

"Righ… _what._"

"Sōkatsui!"

"HEYYYY!"

* * *

><p>Ukitake checked the clock. He hadn't gotten a hell butterfly from either Rukia or Renji, so he assumed that Rukia wasn't making much progress with Ichigo's kido lesson. The white haired captain smiled, thinking of how his new third seat was likely to handle the task…<p>

Just then, his door banged open.

"Ukitake-taicho! I'm here to tell you –" "No, I'M here to tell him, Kiyone!" "I got here first! Besides, I'm way more trustworthy than you!" "That's only because you cheated! And I'm WAY more trustworthy than you'll EVER be, and Ukitake-taicho knows it! Don't you, taicho?" "No way! Don't try to make the captain take your side, it won't work! Tell him, taicho!" "Hypocrite! You just –" " – No, you're the –"

Ukitake gave a large cough, not from his illness, but from attempting to get his fourth and fifth seats' attentions. When they stopped bickering – at least for the moment – and turned his way, he addressed them.

"Kiyone, Sentaro, enough already … just tell me what you intended to, please."

"Right!" They exclaimed at the same time, snapping to attention while giving eachother dirty looked out of the corner of their eyes.

Sentaro stepped forwards. "The head captain is calling a meeting."

Ukitake blinked. "At this time of night? Whatever is it about?"

"I believe they're introducing two new captains, sir!"

* * *

><p>"I'm glad you all could make it to this rather late meeting," Head captain Yamamoto rumbled in his powerful, gravelly voice.<p>

"Since I'm sure there are things which everyone was doing, and you would all like to get back to them, we'll keep the meeting brief. As I'm sure most of you know, there is a rather unique situation involving reiryoku in Hueco Mundo; the details of this will be delved into some other time. As a result of this, among other causes, I felt it was best to take the captain-leveled Soul reapers among us and promote them quickly. Two of them have already been cleared; I am now introducing Chiaki Chihiro, previous member of the advanced patrol corps, as the captain of division three. In addition, Muguruma Kensei, previous visard as well as ex-captain, will be back as the captain of division nine."

The large doors at the end of the room opened, and the two figures strode in, each complete with their new captain's haori.

There were a slight stirring amongst the captains, but they stayed silent. Many were wondering at the choice of a visard into the ranks, and all were analyzing the two in front of them. Soi Fon appraised the light-haired visard, having already met Chiaki when she, along with the head captain and Kyoraku, had overseen her captain's promotion test.

Hitsugaya let out a breath.

So there wasn't any new captain of the fifth yet? He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not; on the one hand, division five could really use a boost in morale and some stronger leadership right not; but on the other hand, they had been fiercely loyal towards their previous captain, and … okay, so he was talking Hinamori more than the fifth division as a whole, but still.

Just then, a figure rushed through the already-opened doors. It was Yamamoto's lieutenant, and he looked worried.

"Sir! Pardon the intrusion, but there's been a breach of security in the world of the living! Two Adjuchas-class menos, as well as perhaps half a dozen menos grande, have appeared in southern Japan."

This time, muttering did break out amongst the captains.

"Silence!" the head captain barked. "Elaborate on the situation."

"Yes sir. There haven't been any human casualties so far, as a team from the third and ninth division has been able to hold them off, but … if it continues like this … I'm not sure how long the hollows will be kept in check. From the report, it seems that a few of the menos grande have already been eliminated, but the Adjuchas are proving as much as vice-captains Hisagi and Kira can handle at the moment."

"Understood. In that case, captains Chiaki and Muguruma, as well as captain Ukitake, go to the world of the living to take care of the menos."

_Meeting their new captains on the battlefield? _Kyoraku thought._ I wonder how that'll go…_

* * *

><p>The three captains flash-stepped through the Dangai Precipice World, with Ukitake leading point. He addressed the two new captains behind him without turning or slowing his pace.<p>

"You two are meant to take care of the situation, as a show of support for your divisions; I'm going to have to leave to check on something that one of my squad members deployed in this world was … working on." Kensei thought he detected a note of humor in the old captain's voice, but didn't comment on it. Ukitake continued.

"It looks like the squads sent out have managed to separate the group of hollows into two groups; you two will figure out the details when we arrive. It'll be up to you to assess the damages and organize your division members after the hollows are defeated; then return to the Soul Society without me, I'll be following shortly."

"Right," Kensei said.

"Heh-hih! Sounds good to me," Chihiro giggled, then sang (to the tune of "We Three Kings"):

"_We~ three captains o' Gotei Thirte~en. _

_Racing ahead to the ba~at~tle sce~ne. _

_Adju~chas or ay_

_Me~nos gra~an~day, _

_Doe~sn't matter to meeeee."_

Kensei stared at the new captain from the corner of his eye. What the heck was up with this girl?

A square of light shone ahead. "Here we are! Let's go!" Ukitake called.

They burst through the light, Chihiro and Kensei racing ahead, and Ukitake falling back.

"I can see the two battles," Kensei called out, peering through the dark night while running across the sky. It wasn't too hard; he just had to follow the bursts of light that signified kido being shot. "Hell yea," cheered Chihiro. "But, how do we know which group is which? One is the ninth and one is the third, right?"

Kensei frowned. Her voice was giving him a bit of a headache, but she had a point. Which team was which? Beside him, Chihiro pouted.

"Fine then, don't answer me. See if I care. OKIE DOKIE, I can see two menos grande in the group on the left … and, um…" a large burst of kido lit up the rightmost scene for a second, "…and only one on the other left. I'll take the left, then!" She sped off.

"WAIT! What? You said 'left' twice!"

No response; the spastic bleach-blonde had already flash-stepped away. "…gah! Damn it, she's crazy," Kensei muttered to himself. _Looks like she went … left. Huh, I guess I'll have to take the fight on the right, with one menos plus the __Adjuchas__. Hope we chose our right squads._

* * *

><p>One of the two remaining menos that the third division's team was fighting let off a great blast of cero. The division members scattered out of the way of the bloodred beam.<p>

There were around ten officers present to fight the duo of menos; originally there had been another, but it had been taken out already. With that being said, it didn't look like there was much progress being made in the elimination of the remaining two; none of their kido did any more than rock the beasts slightly, and they couldn't risk getting close without being trampled underfoot or obliterated by a cero.

Half or the officers regrouped around the back of a menos, and started chanting. A combination of five soul reapers' kido, with the full incantation, might possibly be enough to take down the menos; at least it would stun it enough so that the other group could place in a more critical hit. The problem was –

_ROAR_!

The group scattered once again, narrowly avoiding a cero that the other menos shot.

The two colossal hollows weren't even giving them enough time to finish a chant, and kido without the incantation wasn't strong enough for this level of hollow! Not at their skill level at least.

And Kira-fukutaicho, along with two other division members, was very much busy with the Adjuchas-class menos that their group was trying to kill, as well. For now, at least, they were on their own –

"Flash! _Chiraidori_!"

Another burst of kido lit up the surroundings, brighter than any of the other bursts – _wait, that wasn't kido… _a few seconds passed, then:

"Raikoya: Konpasu!"

Four tendrils of blinding light raked across the night sky, giving a pale and ghostly false daylight to the scene, which bleached out as the light shone its brightest. Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone.

* * *

><p>Chihiro stood above the scene of battle on the ground, balancing atop a pine tree.<p>

She memorized the positions of the two menos grande and began tracing a large circle in the air with her released sword. Chiraidori's shikai wasn't very impressive looking at first sight; the blade merely became shorter, straighter, and double-edged, and the hilt transformed into two birds wing's sweeping widely downwards to shield her hands. While tracing the circle, she recited some basic coordinates, and sparks of electricity began to form along her blade.

"One: west-three. Two: west-three. Three: north-five. Four: north-five."

The circle was now a blazing perimeter of lightning that Chihiro could easily have stepped into. She called out the final words of her attack. "Raikoya: Konpasu!"

From the top, bottom, left, and right of the circle, four arrows of lightning shot out, each aiming for one of the coordinates that had been called. Each Menos was struck by two of the bolts – they quickly dissolved into nothing.

Chihiro grinned. "Two menos down. One Adjuchas to go!"

* * *

><p>Okay, visualize it. The dark hole … falling in … picking up the reiatsu …<p>

"**Ha … hadō #31 …** erm,_Shakkahō!_ Or someth – WAUGH!"

BAM. The dark night light up with red fire for a few seconds.

"Holy ssshhh…" Rukia whispered as she turned to look behind her, eyes wide.

Ichigo's 30-level destructive spell had shot a wide hole through three trees before dispersing while partly obliterating a boulder.

Let's say that again.

Ichigo shot a kido. Which was at the thirties-level. And it chopped cleanly through _three_ trees. And nearly destroyed a BOULDER.

"O…okay, I think you pass," Rukia said. _Took you long enough, strawberry._

"We're done? GREAT! I'm starving! Seriously, what is it, like midnight now? But first, come over here so I can hit you; I mean, WHAT THE HELL! And wait, what was that about me being a lieut–"

"Congratulations, Ichigo-san! I knew you could do it, although it took awhile. And we could use some lessons on control and some finer points, of course, but they do say practice makes perfect!"

Ichigo's jaw dropped. "_Ukitake-san?_ What are you doing here?"

"Ukitake-taicho! I was just about to end a hell butterfly. How did you know?"

Rukia's captain smiled. "I was in the area, thanks to a few high-class menos suddenly appearing. Well, they aren't actually very near Karakura town, which was probably why you didn't notice the battle, but it's still the world of the living. And anyway, the two new captains are taking care of that, so it's a moot point, I suppose!"

Rukia perked up, interested. "New captains? Menos? What–"

"Wait, wait, wait," Ichigo growled. "Will SOMEONE _PLEASE_ explain…"

"Oh that's right, Ichigo-san! Congratulations; so, do you accept?" "Do I accept WHAT?" "What? Well, didn't Rukia say?" "Sorry sir, I was going to, but Ichigo–" "LIES!" "Accept the newly offered position as the lieutenant of my – and Rukia's – squad; that is to say," Ukitake looked directly at Ichigo, and although still smiling, he became more serious.

"…would you be interested in becoming the vice captain of division thirteen?"


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

**Hello again! So, Kira and Chiaki meet in this one… but I have to push Kensei and Hisagi to next chapter.**

…**Yes, yes, I know, that's what I said last chapter. Hitsugaya and Dune's conversation got too long, and then I added Hinamori and Dune's haikus, and …yea. On that note, ****I take full responsibility for the strangeness of Dune's Haikus that we see in this chapter.****Put that together with Chikai's little rhyme before this, and you may get the idea that I like thinking up the most random, ridiculous poems. Well, you're right :D**

**On a happier note, I'm updating this story pretty frequently. Usually I'm a huge procrastinator… although school starts next week, so that might impede my progress. :P**

**Chiaki's attack means "Lightning Arrow: Wave"**

~~ Featuring Kira, Chiaki, Dune, Hitsugaya and Hinamori~~

_Four tendrils of blinding light raked across the night sky, giving a pale and ghostly false daylight to the scene, which bleached out as the light shone its brightest. Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone._

"Kira-fukutaicho! Did you SEE that? Oh crap."

The soul reaper jumped aside as half a dozen spikes comprised of hollow armor, each about four feet tall, stuck themselves into the ground where he had been standing a moment ago. The Adjuchas they were fighting was viciously fast, and had a nasty habit of growing and shooting out dangerous spikes from all over its body.

"Yes, I did, but we can't be worrying about whatever that was right now! Try to keep it from moving about so freely! …shoot, it's running circles around us."

Kira found out that, through this unique ability, the hollow was able to counter his shikai's effects. Whenever he managed to strike the hollow's spike-armor – not intending on cutting, merely using Wabisuke's power to double the weight of anything it strikes in order to slow it down – the hollow would shed or shoot out that piece of armor. Its speed was impressive, and it wasn't slowing down anytime soon.

"Watch out, it's spinning!" he called.

The hollow had used that trick twice already: twirling in a tight circle while releasing a deadly rain of spikes. The first time he hadn't been expecting it, and a spike had given him a good cut across his upper arm; but the same trick wasn't going to work twice, let alone three times.

"**Bakudō # 73: ****Tozanshō**!" Kira called.

Instead of the barrier forming around him, it was cast in a seal around the hollow. The spiked clashed off the walls, creating a few cracks, but none broke through. Before the hollow could break out, Kira began reciting a new spell.

_"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm." _Just because his shikai's effect was being canceled didn't mean that he couldn't fight effectively!_ "The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! _**Hadō #63, **Raikōhō**!**"

The kido was timed perfectly; as the blue pyramid shattered, the yellow kido rocketed and burst over the hollow before it had time to react.

Then, a high voice rang out in the brief silence. "Wow, you cast Tozanshō on an opponent instead of yourself? You're pretty good at kido!"

Kira and his two officers spun around to face the direction of the voice. The lieutenant motioned for the officers to stay back, and yelled, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Okay. Yo," Chihiro responded, flash stepping in front of the trio – perhaps a bit to close, because Kira and the others automatically took a step back.

"What? Who are you?"

"…Guess," Chihiro chirped, tilting her head. Kira frowned, annoyed, but before he could respond, Chihiro raised the sword that she had been holding casually by her side. The three officers quickly took a defensive position.

"Raikoya: Nami!"

Chihiro's attack, a vertical arc of lightning, soared between and past the shinigami and struck right through the form of the Adjuchas that had been rising from the dust in the air. The hollow's form was seen briefly struck in two before it dissolved like the menos before it.

Kira and the two other soul reapers, eyes wide, turned back to face Chihiro again.

She grinned and sheathed her sword.

"I couldn't have done it in one attack if it hadn't been for that great Raikōhō you shot," she said, addressing Kira. "Yay for teamwork! …Even though you didn't know that I was a part of the team… so, yay for surprise- improvisation teamwork! …Ya, that'll do. Right?" Chihiro cocked her head, still smiling widely.

"What … seriously, who are you?" he demanded. Chihiro opened her mouth, but a large explosion from behind them distracted her. Everyone turned to look at it, and saw the form of a menos crash down to the earth.

"Ooh, look, I think that's Kensei fighting! Let's go watch!" Chihiro clapped, half-striding, half-skipping past the officers. "Wait! Who is _Kensei_? …what… exactly…?" Kira trailed off.

Chiaki spun around again. "Why, Kensei's the captain of division nine, of course!"

"Ummm… division nine doesn't _have_ a captain at the momen–" "Yea, that's Kensei! It's his style … I think. I mean, I only met him like an hour ago, but a girl can always tell, you know? What do they call it… a woman's intuition! Yea! Oh, and he's the captain NOW, of course." She touched her chin thoughtfully. "Whoops. I'm being rude. It's good to introduce yourself before dragging someone off to watch someone else fight giant monsters, right?"

"Uh…" Kira replied, not sure of how to respond to this woman's antics. Behind him, the two officers exchanged a confused glance.

"Yes, it is!" Chihiro insisted firmly. "So, introduce yourself!"

The three officers now had similar 'what the hell' faces. Didn't she just say that she was going to introduce herself first? Was this person crazy, or what? Seeing no other option, Kira stepped forward. "I'm Kira Izuru, Lieutenant of Division Three. These are two of my seated officers. Now, who are _you_?"

"Three? Oh cool, I chose the right place! V for victory!" The tall woman put her left hand on her hip and stuck out her right hand with two fingers making a peace sign. Then she blinked. "Who am _I_?" With a grin, she spun around again and yelled,

"I'm your new captain! Now let's go!"

* * *

><p>Dune had been sitting on the roof above the fifth division's training grounds, watching the young girl and making bets with himself for the past four – count 'em, <em>four<em> – hours; _she'll stop to take a break in fifteen minutes. _

_No? Okay, after she's done with that set of hand-to-hand combat drills, she'll stop training. Huh, no? Okay… this practice of advanced kido will be the last set of training she does today. …No? Okay… she'll last another half an hour before going to bed. …it's been forty-five minutes… so, she'll stop after two more sets of swordplay practice. _

…_Wow, no? Then, it'll be ten minutes before someone comes and finds her and brings her to bed. …Good grief, am I going to have to talk to her myself? Okay. If she doesn't outright_ pass out_ after she finishes up this workout, I _will_ go and talk to her. _

_Hey, look, here's someone coming now._

…_oh, it's Toshiro?_

Dune stood up, just in case the young captain hadn't noticed him. Hitsugaya paused, then flash-stepped to stand beside Dune.

"Good evening… or actually, it's way past evening by now, isn't it?" Dune said lightly.

Hitsugaya turned to look down at the training field. "Yes, it is, and yet she doesn't look like she's going to bed anytime soon," he muttered. Dune nodded. "Does… does she do this often?" he asked tentatively. Hitsugaya gave a quick grimace, then nodded.

"I think… lately, Hinamori's been feeling… not very useful. It could have been a lot worse; luckily, just after the war, Inoue Orihime came to assist the fourth division with the healing – for what I gather, that girl was feeling the same way as Hinamori – and she possesses some very unique abilities that helped a lot of people who otherwise would have been a lot worse off." Hitsugaya sighed.

"But even though Inoue was able to almost completely heal her, Hinamori's been … a bit down recently. After the war, it's to be expected, of course. Especially considering…" He was silent for a bit.

Dune nodded, not wanting to say anything. He had a pretty good idea of what the 'especially' was about; from what he had heard, Aizen's mind games hadn't stopped after he left the Seiretei. During the war, he used his illusions to make Hitsugaya attack his friend – not a good thing for either of those two.

"Anyway," Hitsugaya continued, "she hasn't been letting it show in front of her squad too much, but she hasn't been at her best for awhile. It's mostly a mental block, I think. It doesn't help that she won't talk to Kira or Abarai or Matsumoto or _especially_ me about the war, at _all_." The young captain turned back to Dune. "So, she thinks she should make up for it by training physically, and getting as strong as she can, for her squad. She's been under a lot of pressure, since she's been taking the work of the captain and lieutenant herself. Or maybe it's that she's working so hard so that she doesn't have to stop to think about everything else…" he sighed again.

Dune cast his eyes downward, looking at the young lieutenant who was now doing kicking drills on a post.

"Bottling things up is never a good way to deal with them. And while pushing yourself is a good way to get stronger, overdoing it will just make a person burn out."

"I haven't been able to bring myself to talk with her. Well, we've talked, but… we haven't _talked, _if you know what I mean," Hitsugaya replied.

After another nod from Dune, he continued, "She won't listen to me when I tell her to take it easy. She won't listen to anyone. Right now, she's trying to take everything on herself and be self-reliant; I guess, after being hurt by that bas… by Aizen, she's not all that willing to open up to people again."

He turned to face the taller man completely. "Technically, I'm not supposed to say anything about it, but I'm betting you passed that captains' test. The final decision is for the head captain, but I think it's been made." He turned slightly to look at Hinamori, her rhythmatic kicks thudding against the worn post. "She really needs a strong leader right now, but more than that, someone she can look up to and befriend." Dune smiled.

"Don't worry. I already know that she's a pretty strong person; I've seen it, myself," Dune was quiet for a moment, before continuing, "If I do get the position, I'll be sure to help her out. I know what with everything going on now, it's not going to be easy… but I've always believed it's important to both be a strong team and a strong individual. It's something I taught at the academy."

Hitsugaya frowned. "Funny, I do remember hearing something like that before…"

"Well I sure hope you remember it!" Dune said loudly.

"I mean, I was your teacher for a year!"

"Eh?"

"…Shin-sensei. I had a ponytail back then, if I recall."

"…oh…" Hitsugaya stared of into the sky, a bit dazed. "Huh, you know, you're right…"

"Good times…" Dune trailed off. "You were quite the genius, back at the academy. You achieved your shikai under me, although as I recall, you froze a good section of our training grounds in the process," he teased.

"I-it, that was… well, I was younger then," Hitsugaya huffed. "Hyōrinmaru was quite difficult to control at first."

"Indeed, it's quite the powerful Zanpakutou. My Koudomeshi was hard to reign in, as well."

"Koudomeshi, that's right… 'Earth Summons', huh? A fitting name, from what I saw during the captains' test."

Dune gave a cat-like grin. "It's my nature! Say what you mean, mean what you say! No smooth talking or fooling about, you know!" He reached into his uniform, and pulled out a rose. Hitsugaya noted that it may have been the same one he was playing with right before he took his captain's test; all of the outer petals were now gone. Dune twirled the rose upwards quickly by its short stem.

"That's not to say that one can't be poetic, but naturally everything is good in moderation."

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. "Ah, yes, as I recall, you were rather fond of making up random haikus during lessons at the academy."

"_Helpful_ haikus!"

"… _A well-balanced soul/ Needs not restrictive logic/ Refrigerator_?"

"Look, improvisation is my specialty." "_Refrigerator_?"

"You remembered the first two lines because of it, though! And it's full of wisdom – I mean, it reminds you that just because you have to keep in mind so many lessons about every aspect of fighting, strategizing, etc … sometimes the best rules to follow are your own, spur-of-the-moment decisions. Think outside the box, don't rely on _restrictive logic_. Plus, it makes you laugh."

A higher voice chimed in. "The one _I_ remember best is, _Even the experts/Will mess up kido, because/Explosions are fun_."

Hitsugaya and Dune whipped around. "Oh, miss Hinamori! I didn't realize you heard us talking up here. …Heheh, how long have you known?"

"Ever since you shouted out, 'well I sure hope you remember it', Shin-sensei." Hinamori gave a slight smile, but the two could tell it was a bit strained. "Your lessons at the academy were always, um, interesting."

Hitsugaya looked back and forth between the two. "Oh, you two know eachother?"

"Shin-sensei was one of my side instructors for several years at the academy, although I never had him for a main class. He did teach me a lot, though. Ah, why exactly are you here, sir?"

"Oooh! It's a secret!" Dune said happily, getting a brief eye twitch from his shorted companion.

Hinamori looked at the two, a bit confused. "Well… alright. It's good to see you again. I hope everything's okay at the academy."

"Oh, you know – same old, same old," Dune said uncertainly. In actuality, morale had been a bit low lately; Aizen had been a part-time teacher at the academy in addition to being a captain, and his classes were always very popular. Now, of course…

"Yes, well," Hitsugaya interrupted, sensing the cause of Dune's discomfort, "Hinamori, don't you think you should rest? It's the middle of the night, and you usually get up pretty early to do paperwork."

"I suppose you're right… but it hasn't been so bad. You've been helping out with the paperwo – oh, did I thank you for that, Shiro-chan? You're so nice." "You're wel- _wait, would you stop it with the Shiro-chan!" _

Dune made a noise that sounded like he was hiding a laugh with a cough.

It hadn't been an easy decision, leaving his post as a teacher at Shino Academy; but, like Aizen did, he could still guest lecture and give informal lessons from time to time, probably once he was settled down better in his new squad. Well, if he got the position, which he probably did.

Still, though, he would miss the people and the scenery; but, Dune was a go-with-the-flow type of guy, who made the best of what he had. It was a good opportunity, and it seemed like a good time for a change.

Besides, how could he say no to people who needed his help?

**Thanks to all who have favorited or alerted this story, and thanks to everyone else who's just reading! Feel free to leave a review; even if you don't have a fanficion account (or are too lazy to log in … (; …) it's open, so yea. **

**I'll try to have chapter six up before schools starts next week – that'll defiantly feature Hisagi and Kensei, and probably Ichigo, Rukia, and Ukitake too. **

**Sayonara :D**


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

…**Aaaand we're back in the world of the living, at the battle scene! Haha, it's been like a month since I've updated… school's been even busier that I thought XP. ANYWAY. This picks up right where Chiaki and the third division left off, focusing on the ninth's battle this time.**

**HISAGI AND KENSEI YAY! **

**Then we get two scenes of more sentimental, less action-y stuff. On a different not, it's really been a long day for everyone (especially considering it's now actually **_**morning**_** for them – just barely). I really need to let the characters sleep. XD**

**Next chapter … Um, I haven't really planned it out (at all) but maybe it'll involve Dune :P hee hee…**

~~ Featuring Kensei, Hisagi, Kyoraku, Lisa, and Ichigo ~~

"Line two, up! Line one, fall back!" Hisagi called. His squad members moved accordingly, the band of six shinigami making up the first group running backwards to let their other half dozen comrades forwards to fight the giant menos in their stead.

That didn't mean they were falling back to get a break, though. They were cycling on and off, fighting the last remaining menos one minute…

CREEECH… WHAM.

…and the adjuchas-class hollow the next.

The two large trees that the hollow had just felled with a swipe of one of its eight tails – _tentacles? _Came crashing down. Hisagi jumped to the side, zanpakutou ready to defend from any unexpected strikes, to avoid being crushed by the falling timbers.

The hollow in question was maybe ten feet high – not huge, as hollows go. But it was deadly. Most of the shinigami in the quickly assembled attack force had been injured by its whipping appendages, which had the ability to thin out into a deadly wire or expand into a crushing, ropelike club in an instant, as well as sprout daggers. No one had been able to get remotely close to the hollow for a head-on strike, and its dagger-sheathed tentacles swatted away any kido. Over all, they were doing worse than the hollow was.

_If we could just finish off that menos, _Hisagi thought while quickly circling behind the adjuchas, _we could focus all our force on this hollow. _

As it was, he was considering breaking off two of the menos-fighting team and focus eight officers to the adjuchas and four on the menos.

_WHIP WHAM. Almost cut in two by the wire-like tail._

Or maybe it would be better to do a break cycle _… _

_Dive low, the tail's coming back up behind you. CRUNCH. Tail's in club form, destroying more trees. _

Cycling attack with rest, a desperate measure with the level of hollows they were facing, but…

_Focus of the battle, strategize, you've got to do everything at once…_

Some of the shinigami looked to be more injured than they were at first glance. Everyone was fighting so hard, though – even –

_Maybe I… _duck, "**Hadō #31! **Shakkahō!" …_should do _that _after all… _shunpo to the right, back in front …

…_release my shikai? _Hisagi allowed his gaze to tear from the adjuchas while his officers surged forwards in a blunt, but hopefully forceful, attack.

_I could take down the menos quickly if that … _

…_were … the … _

…_case?_

What the hell?

The menos was split in two, lengthwise.

The cut went from the top of its monstrous head to between its eyes, severing its nose, slicing the hollow hole into two crescents, all the way down to where it separated the feet. The hollow's halves fell eerily slowly before crashing, and Hisagi watched as dust floated up from the impact, and then something other than dust rose as the hollow dissolved.

None of the shinigami officers he had brought with him were capable of something like that, especially after tiring so much after all the fighting. Anyway, they all had identical expressions of shock and disbelief. Behind Hisagi, the team battling the adjuchas had paused too, glancing back first in triumph, then doing a double-take when they realized it hadn't been their fellow officers who had accomplished the feat. Even the octopus-like hollow stopped its maniacal whipping of tentacles for a second to look up in confusion.

Hisagi saw that opportunity and took it.

With a low shout, he launched himself past the now still tentacles and swung Kazeshini heavily at the top of the hollows head, aiming for a vertical strike that would sever the hollows mask.

At the last second, a tentacle from behind the hollow darted forwards to just barely push his zanpakutou away – in doing so, slicing off a section directly above the hollow's mask, as Hisagi's sword had just barely touched the top of its head.

With a pained cry, the hollow's tentacles surged once again. It reared back blindly, deadly flailing limbs going mad. Hisagi didn't have to yell at his officers to get back, they had already leaped out of the way of the thrashing tails once it had roared.

Not that he would have had the breath to yell –

Apparently one of the tentacle's daggers caught the back of his uniform.

Oddly enough, instead of ripping him up, he was being dragged back roughly, through the forest of hollow limbs – _like rose stems, vines with thorns, _Hisagi thought wildly as he attempted to bring Kazeshini up to maybe block or cut through some of the –

THUD. "Ow–!"

It wasn't the sharp sensation of a dozen daggers cutting him as Hisagi expected, but the force of the wind nearly being knocked out of him as he was thrown to the ground none too gently. Nevertheless, he rolled up speedily into a crouching position, ready to slice the vines away –

Oh… There was someone standing right there, between him and the adjuchas menos.

So no wonder the feeling had been so misplaced. It wasn't a thorn that had grabbed him, it must have been one of his officers – strange, though, Hisagi could have sworn he saw all of them retreat – and anyway –

No. This spiritual pressure definitely wasn't –

"**Blow 'em away." **

– anything that his officers possessed, it was stronger and somehow _wilder – _or more sturdy? than any seated officer or even lieutenant that he –

"**Tachikaze!"**

– knew… that release command … didn't he?

CRASH. With a start, Hisagi focused on the adjuchas once again – or rather what was left of it.

If some giant had come with a huge kitchen cleaver and cut up the hollow into slices, cleanly like butter, the result would have been the same. The adjuchas fell in on itself, piling into a large lump for a few still seconds before starting to dissipate like the menos had.

Hisagi realized he was still sitting on the ground – not so much crouched anymore as leaning with his hands behind him for support to look at the scene.

The silver haired visard – and now captain – turned around and looked down at the startled lieutenant. "Hey," he said.

Hisagi blinked. Twice. _There's no way. This guy can't be…_

Blinking a third time, he focused on a large hand that had been stretched out in front of him. After staring for a brief second, he quickly grabbed it, and was pulled to his feet.

"You got a name, kid?"

_It's really him. _"Y-yes. I'm Hisagi Shuuhei."

"…Shuuhei, huh?" Kensei narrowed his eyes briefly, then grinned. "So. Looks like you've gotten a bit tougher since last time I saw you. Not crying this time, eh?"

Hisagi grinned despite himself. "Well, I –"

"Sir!"

A chorus of voices shouted from behind him. Hisagi half-turned to see the members of his team running up. "Sir, what's –? Who's –?" A flurry of uncompleted questions started from the group of confused shinigami.

"Settle down!" Kensei barked. There was silence at once. All eyes turned to him once they took in his appearance – tall, broad, muscular arms bare, silver hair, piercings – and most importantly, a white haori. A sleeveless white captain's cloak over a sleeveless back shinigami uniform –

A new voice sounded before anyone could react.

"_Lookin' so badass,_

_Just huntin' Adjuchas,_

_He's the reaper in white,_

_Tearing up through the night!_

_For saving the day,_

_Call squad nine, it's Ken-sei!"_

Chiaki winked. "Yo!"

* * *

><p>Officially, it was morning, but much too early for the soul reapers to be up, let alone the sun. Captain Kyoraku, however, we sitting – it would be more accurate to say lounging – at his desk in the eighth division, having not gone to sleep that night. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had slept in a rather late, as Nanao was too busy doing lieutenant things to find him and douse him with a jug of water (her preferred method of waking her captain, from a hangover or otherwise). Whatever it was, he was up … barely.<p>

He yawned and stretched as he pushed a small pile of paperwork to the side and tugged a bottle of sake closer.

"It's no use, I suppose," he mused. "Can't sleep, certainly can't focus on the paperwork when you're worrying about a team of Soul Reapers facing off against angry menos. Ah, I wonder how Ukitake's doing with Ichigo and Kuchiki-san…" He tilted a filled sake cup to his mouth.

"Yes, I can see you're just a shivering bundle of nerves … taicho."

The captain did a spit-take, his hat nearly falling off in the process. After coughing once or twice, he turned around to see the owner of the familiar voice.

"Lisa…" he mumbled.

She was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, still wearing her schoolgirl getup from the world of the living, looking down at him expressionlessly.

"Yo," she said.

"…"

"…"

"…"

" … Would you say something already, dammit!"

"Ah ha ha… sorry," the typically laid-back captain answered. "It … you caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you suddenly appear in my office … Did I tell you before how nice you look in that uniform?" Lisa '_tsk'_ed, then looked around. "Where's Nanao?"

"Oh, Nanao-chan… I do believe she went out to hang with a couple of her friends. Is that what you say these days? Hang? She's chilling, you know. Chillaxing. Kicking back … kicking it?"

"That's what you say if someone dies."

"I thought that was licking a pail." "Kicking the bucket." "Eating the dirt?" "…I think you mean _biting the dust_." "Oh, but I thought it made sense, like you're buried underground and you don't have any food, so you'd have to –" "You don't eat if you're dead, idiot." "Well, not unless you have spiritual power! Then you eat and become a soul reaper and drink lots of sake! Hey, want some?" "No." "Ah…" "… … You haven't changed much, have you, captain?"

Kyoraku smiled warmly. "Hmm. I don't know," he said. "Do you think so?" Lisa was silent for a moment, and then she turned around.

"…I just dropped by to make sure you didn't turn the squad into a dump with me gone."

"Oh, don't worry. I've got Nanao-chan to make sure that doesn't happen. She's a good lieutenant … you'd be proud."

"I am," Lisa murmured, striding out of the office.

There was a slight pause. "I already said it," her old captain called out after her, "but I'm glad you're doing well, Lisa."

Lisa didn't pause or look back, but her lips twitched slightly. "Idiot," she said fondly – too quiet for Kyoraku to hear.

* * *

><p>Ichigo was sitting on a hill, somewhere just outside of Karakura town, watching the sun rise.<p>

He supposed he should have gone to sleep – after all, he had been up since five-thirty in the morning. Considering that was probably a good estimate of the time it was now, he had been up for twenty-four hours, most of which was spent doing high activity – sparring with Renji, fighting off Renji and Rukia's tag team (cheaters), running away from Rukia, and oh yea, learning Kido. He was exhausted, actually.

It wasn't like he could fall asleep, though. After …

_I think … I think that you should follow your heart, Kurosaki-kun._

After Ukitake's proposal, everyone came, in the middle of the night.

Orihime. Chad and Ishida … even Tatsuki. Not to mention his dad, his sisters, plus Urahara and Yourichi. Keigo and Mizurio, too.

It wasn't like he had to decide that second, so if felt a bit odd that they all came immediately. Especially since Keigo, Mizurio and Tatsuki hadn't known about the whole shinigami thing until right after the winter war… neither did his sisters, actually. But still; come they did.

"_It's not a big deal," Ishida said, pushing his glasses up. _

_The glass caught the light from the overhead lamp in Urahara's shop where everyone had gathered – Ichigo couldn't make out his expression from the shine. _

"_After all, with me around, Karakura town will be safe from hollows no matter what. Probably the town would be better off without an overexcited soul reaper swinging around a huge cleaver and attracting trouble like a light bulb attracts moths."_

"Who's_ overexcited? Four-eyes!" Ichigo yelled, then blinked and sat back down with is arms crossed, realizing that he pretty much just proved Ishida's statement correct._

"_Wow, Ichi-nii," Yuzu said. "This is all really cool… sort of scary, though. I mean, I had no idea! All this time, you were … and that big fight – Karin, can you believe we slept through it?" "Hmph," her sister replied. "I'm still kinda pissed that you didn't tell us anything about it!" she said to Ichigo, who scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "But … I guess it's cool that you saved the world and all." Beside his daughter, Isshin gave a smile and nodded._

"_Ah, well, it all makes sense now," Keigo said, adopting a sage-like look. "Heh, I should have know all alo –" "It's still hard to believe," Mizurio interrupted, ignoring the whimper Keigo gave in response. _

"_But it sounds like either way … well, you care about these people a lot, huh?" Mizurio looked over to where Ukitake, Renji, Rukia and (to Ichigo's surprise) Byakuya were sitting. Mizurio looked down. "Well, you know, whatever you decide, I think it's great. We tried to fight a little against that Aizen guy … you saw. If you want to deal with that stuff – if they need you – go ahead. We shouldn't hold you back."_

_Chad nodded beside him. Ishida made a small noise and looked away._

It really surprised him – he figured his sisters would be more reluctant than that. Everyone took the existence of Soul reapers really well – Ukitake, Urahara and Yourichi did a good job explaining what he couldn't.

"_I think … I think that you should follow your heart, Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said. "You're the kind of person who wants to protect everyone important to him, as best as he can, right? More than that, even … well … in that case, you should defiantly go with Kuchiki-san and get stronger! We'll be good here; we've been training too, you know! Chad, Ishida and me –" _

_She glanced to the Quincy beside her and blushed a bit. _

At first, he didn't think he'd accept the offer anyway. His home was Karakura, after all! But in the end… In the end, everyone really just wanted him to be content; what did HE want, they asked…

"_From now on, I'll be training to get stronger, too!" Tatsuki said, grinning. _

"_Then, when we meet again, I'll surprise you with how far I've come! Don't think that just because you have a head start it means you're so far ahead of me that I can't catch up – I've been able to see ghosts for a while now. I definitely won't lose to you, Ichigo!"_

Nice. It was nice to know that some things hadn't changed, and probably never would. Even if…

_Ichigo sighed. "Well … I guess, then, you have my answer, Ukitake-taicho… I'll take the position." _

_Ukitake gave a content smile and nodded. Rukia grinned wide and Renji gave a fist pump. Byakuya's lips twitched in what looked more like hidden annoyance than a smile._

"_It's not like we'll never see eachother again," Yuzu sniffed. "You'll visit, right?" _

"_Of course!" Ichigo said confidently. "Hey, maybe I can bring you guys to check out soul society sometime…" He glanced over at Ukitake for approval, but it was Byakuya who answered him; the first time the noble had spoken during the whole meeting._

"_Naturally, if your family or friends wish to visit the Seiretei, I would be willing to provide an official guide for them. The Seiretei is a large place…" "Oh, wow. Thanks, Byakuya." "If you are going to become a lieutenant, you should learn how to address your –" "Well, it's settled then! Can I have a day or two, though, you know…"_

_Ukitake chuckled, ignoring Byakuya's twitch. "Naturally. Rukia will stay in town until you're ready to leave – Urahara will provide the transportation. Good Luck everyone! It's time for us three to head back."_

He, Byakuya and Renji had left via senkaimon, all a few hours ago now.

His dad hadn't protested when he said he was going for a walk – Ichigo could take care of himself, after all, even though walking the streets in the wee hours of the morning while physically and mentally exhausted probably wasn't the best idea.

Something Karin said puzzled him, though. He forgot to ask before the subject was moved on.

"_Hmm… visiting the Soul Society, huh?" she gave a small smile. "I'll have to bring my soccer ball. I bet Toshiro doesn't get to play much."_

Ichigo twitched, wondering if he'd be this annoyed if he weren't so tired… but he swore that he heard Karin giggle after that. Karin really wasn't a _giggle_ type of girl.

Ichigo reminded himself to make it clear to Toshiro that his sister was off-limits.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

**I GOT A DEVIANTART ACCOUNT! **

**Of course, I have a grand total of one deviation up there right now, but still. Once I get around to posting pics of Dune or Chiaki, I'll add a link. That's why this chapter is so late, combined with my weekends (my usual writing time) being quite busy lately. =.=**

**Anyway, it's a new day now! Finally, LOL. This chapter, Dune gets officially implemented in the fifth – and next, the shinigami set to investigate things in Hueco Mundo! So, why is it they're taking this sudden action, and what will they find there? Just read the first section of this chapter to get a clue… Enjoy!**

_"Twist me and turn me - And show me the elf - I looked in the water - And saw myself"_

~~ Featuring Nel – _Nelliel-sama_!, Chiaki, Kira, Dune, and Hinamori ~~

White sand blew in a lazy flurry below the blank, eternally midnight skies of Hueco Mundo. Even with the large amount of hollows known to be in existence at any given time, the vast majority of the desert was bare, due to the sheer size of the dimension, giving the lonesome desert an ominous –

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAA-WHAH!"

…Nevermind.

A stout figure and a lean figure, followed closely by a gigantic wormlike creature, sprinted comically across the by-now-not-so-eerie-and-mysterious landscape; a few paces ahead of them flailed a short figure in a green dress – the Mistress of Mischief (and Masochism) herself, Nel-chan!

Nel-chan felt a disturbance in the force.

The green-garbed arrancar's eyes peaked open and her bounds slowed to a walk as her childlike eyes grew confused. What was this weird reiatsu?

CRUMP.

"Buahh!"

Suddenly, her makeshift brothers (and pet) crashed into her, not expecting her to stop. The three humanoids and one … uh … … one Bawabawa, tangled in a heavy heap in one small portion of the sandy ground – then they fell silent with shock and surprise.

The ground gave way.

Nel, Bawabawa, Pesche, and Dondochakka plunged deep into the menos forest.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Pesche and Dondochakka screamed (in a very manly manner, of course) as the plummeted through the dark air. Nel didn't make a sound, the breath whipped away from her as the wind bludgeoned them in their unexpected fall. Below them, the forest was deserted just like the grounds they had chosen in the desert to play, not a menos in sight. Nel noted this with silent mortification – what was going on? Had this strange vibe from the forest reached above the ground? Was that the reason that there were no hollows in sight today?

Suddenly, the sand above them closed up, shutting out the moonlight and therefore leaving the area black. That's why none of the siblings saw the ground coming at them, but they sure felt it.

Nel ricocheted away from her brothers, her small body bouncing until her head hit something square and hard.

_Rocks aren't square, _she dazed.

_That's not a rock. Rocks … they don't have glowy lights on 'em._

Her head's impact must have pushed a button on the mysterious device, because the small 'glowy lights' suddenly increased, and a blaze once again blinded the siblings – and Bawabawa, whatever he is. Once their eyes grew accustomed to the light, they looked around.

"This looks like Sayzel's lab – that creepy espada," Pesche muttered to his companion. He rubbed his arm. There was something static, almost sizzling about the air around them. It made him feel weird. "They're all creepy!" Dondochakka wailed. He stopped suddenly. "Well, all except for our Ne-" "SSHH!" "Right, sorry, I forgot, doncha'know. Heheh."

"No, it's not that!" Pesche said frantically. "I hear something. –Eh, Nel-chan! Nel-chan, this way!" he whispered hurriedly, waving his arms. From her position lying on the ground with the back of her head facing her companions, Nel tilted, looking at them upside-down. She blinked.

"Thehw's som'n' behind ya…" she muttered curiously.

Pesche and Dondochakka turned around slowly.

Whatever IT was wasn't entirely evident. IT seemed like a heat wave in the air, yet somehow gave the impression of being white and smooth and sparkly too; IT condensed in the form of a ball – or at least IT looked that way. They were standing on the very edge of IT, and the shimmering waves rolled off from the center, which was too dense for any of them to see into. A slight crackling sound, at the edge of their hearing came from IT, and the entire thing seemed to roll outwards in an expansion (and yet it didn't get bigger) and pulsate and swirl at the same time.

IT was creepy…

IT was _COOL_.

Nel walked forwards, as if in a trance. The closer she got, the more she could feel the buzzing all over her body – it felt subtly dangerous, like it could tear her apart in an instant, or even dissolve her very essence; and yet it held a simple, pure whisper of energy; some kind of unique and powerful tint that made her want to –

"Nel!" Pesche? "A deeper voice sounded. "Nel-chan, please come back here! We don't know what that thing is, Doncha'know!" Dondochakka… those two were always so protective of her, even back when she was an –

Back… When…?

_Flash. _

_Long green hair swishing peacefully in waves about her – standing straight and tall, one hand casually on her sword's hilt –_

_Flash._

_A long stick with a crescent at the end, black and silver, a blade; a raspy voice – _

_Flash._

_ANGER. Hot. Tears. Wrong. "Do you know what you've done?" _Wrong_. Sword. Pesche and Dondochakka, her responsibility, _hers,_ masks torn off –_

_Flash._

_A great pile of hollows. Scolding._

_Flash. Missions. _

_Flash. Tea. _

_Flash. Numbers. Three, five._

_Flash. White piano teeth. Smile – not a nice smile. …Spoon?_

_Flash. Aizen. Flash._

…_Nnoitra._

"Nel-chan? Nel-chan! NEL!"

_Flash. _

"_There was a time when we ceased being human…"_

"_Instict…Reason…"_

_Flash. Espada…_

"NEL-SAMA!" Thump, thump. "We're coming after you, Nel!" "EHH? We are?" "Of course we are! We swore to protect Nel-sama, after all … think of all she did for us-!"

_Flash. "Declare."_

"You're right, doncha'know! I'M A-COMIN', NEL!" "H-hey! Wait up! AH! CAREFUL! Uh, I don't like this…"

…_Gamuza…_

Deep from within the swirling mass, an explosion of sand and pink clouds came, forcing Pesche and Dondochakka back.

The smoke cleared. _Nelliel_ stood up.

* * *

><p>"…Yea! So, that's pretty much it!" Chiaki chirped, plopping back down unceremoniously on her cushion in front of the low table.<p>

She and Kira had just reported everything that had happened the other night with the menos, as Kira had gathered the third squad in one of the barracks to meet Chiaki. Their explanation had taken a while – and by 'their explanation', picture Kira calmly but slightly nervously trying to convey the extremely abnormal events of the night (and Chiaki's sudden appearance and promotion), with said shinigami interrupting every five words with an extremely peppy and cheerful remark, correction, or approval.

This was met with silence.

Most of the squad was looking at Chiaki like she was some sort of alien haven dropped down from mars quite suddenly and largely uninvited – something strange and unknown.

Sensing this, Kira fidgeted a bit uncomfortably – usually, he would have proposed a toast, but that would have seemed to the soul reapers like an ominous repetition of Amagai's introduction, and no one wanted to be reminded of that.

Chiaki, as usual, was oblivious to the tension; interpreting the silence as quiet acceptance, she popped back up again, clasping her hands and pushing them high above her head in a stretch. "Well then! If no one has any questions … I'm going to check out how Kensei is doing in the ninth! There's something I like about that guy! Lalala…" She started walking off towards the side door.

"Erm –"

Chiaki spun back around to face Kira. "Yup?"

"Well, it's just, we were wondering if there was any new information about those happenings in the menos forest." He paused, and then added, "…is that why the new captains are being so suddenly promoted?"

Chiaki put her finger to her lip and looked up in a coy 'contemplating-pose'. "Hmm … well, that's what I was told. I don't know much more about the energy-blob thing that you guys do –" a few division members rolled their eyes at their captain's terminology, "…but, I'll let you in on a secret, if you wanna know something…" she winked and slid back over to the table. Despite their reluctance, most of the shinigami leaned forward, interested.

"…there's gonna be a second team deployed tomorrow. This time, consisting of at least three captains and their lieutenants."

Murmuring broke out. A team of high-ranking officers hadn't been sent to Hueco Mundo since the cavalry mission to help Kurosaki Ichigo in the winter war, and before that, it had ever happened. Furthermore, that was a full-on offensive strike and the situations waiting for them were well-known. This time, the 'happenings' were a complete mystery; why risk sending a squad of captains and lieutenants?

"Why? Has something happened since the last report?" a shinigami asked from the crowd.

Chiaki grinned, now standing up, back on her cushion, at the front of the room.

"Well, technically I'm not supposed to tell anyone – or so I'm guessing … I actually sort of snuck into the twelfth division labs – for purely explorational purposes – and all of a sudden, there were sirens and everyone started panicking and red lights were flashing and all that 'I sunk your battleship' stuff, you know?"

By now, Chiaki's officers (including Kira) had gone back to looking at her like she was some sort of alien haven dropped down from mars.

"So anyway," she continued as she jumped up, only to land criss-cross on her cushion once again, "This big screen popped up, and it showed what was happening in the forest."

Chiaki put her hands out on the table, arms bent, and leaned forward dramatically.

"There was this huuuuge swirl of dust and energy, and when it cleared, there was this tall chick with greenish hair and some weird torn clothes. And she had horns!" Que Chikai's hooked fingers mimicking horns on either side of her head. At this point, Kira cleared his throat, but Chiaki talked over him.

"All the twelfth-divisioners were running about and panicking, and it was really fun to watch. I managed to decipher that apparently some hollow had made contact with the energy blob and its 'core energy' had changed somehow. 'Stabilized' was the word they used, so I guess the hollow wasn't very sturdy or something. Ummmmm…"

Chiaki tapped her lip. "I think that's about it. Well, besides me following Mayuri-taicho, who talked with the head captain about it, who said that three captains and lieutenants were going to research it. Yup!"

She grinned widely at her quiet division.

"So, who wants to come with me to spy on Kensei?"

* * *

><p>"So, yea," Dune said, scratching the back of his head. Hinamori – his new lieutenant – blinked up at him with wider eye.<p>

"That's … um … sudden. I mean, Good! But, why did you-? No no no, I mean… congratulations! Uh, that is to say…" the slight girl gave a self-conscious cough. Her captain grinned back at her.

"Yea, I know. It's pretty sudden, since I've been perfectly content with my position as a teacher in the Academy for a couple hundred years … but I'm one of the only qualifying soul reapers around. Captain-class shinigami aren't easy to come by. Besides," Dune cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head again, while grinning sheepishly.

"You know, I couldn't say no to Unohana-taicho." _So that's what it was, _Hinamori thought. Certainly the kindhearted woman could be quite … persuasive … when she felt the need. There wasn't a being in Soul society capable of going against that chilling smile…

"Well I suppose that's –"

Just then, a hell butterfly drifted in through the window. Hinamori moved and it landed on her outstretched finger. As soon as it did, the voice of Yamamoto's lieutenant resounded through the room.

_**A message to all captains of the Gotei thirteen. Please gather in the meeting hall for a captain's meeting in exactly ten minutes. Thank you.**_

"…well, that puts an end to THAT conversation. What's with the sudden call, anyway? Usually captains and lieutenants are spread all throughout Seiretei and it takes half a day for everyone to come together…"

"I'm not sure, but it sounds urgent. I wonder if anything sudden happened?" Hinamori said, looking worried. Dune sighed tiredly. "Oh, I hope not. But don't worry, whatever it is, we'll be sure to sort it all out..."

* * *

><p>"…And that's all that was reported by the twelfth division," Lieutenant Sasakibe said, stepping back behind his captain at the front of the hall. Said captain commander looked to Kurotsuchi for verification. After a vain sniff and a curt nod from the twelfth's head, Yamamoto clunked his staff against the wooden floor.<p>

"Now that Dune has been officially introduced into his new squad, I'd like to send Captains Ukitake, Kuchiki, Hitsugaya and their respective lieutenants to investigate this new disturbance in the Menos Forest."

There was a slight ruffling about the captains, minus Chiaki (standing at her new place in front of the file of odd-numbered captains) who smirked knowingly. Sadly, the hell butterfly interrupted her sneaking into Kensei's office (with a very unwilling Kira by her side), but hopefully this meeting would be decisive to make up for it. The other captains, although too well trained to actually break rank –

"Why the hell're we settin' out on some kinda goose hunt if we don't even know what we're huntin'?"

…Okay, except Kenpachi, but you know, he's Kenpachi, so…

"Silence," Yamamoto boomed. "You all know the dangers of such a disturbance. This is a situation that must be taken care of immediately–" "Excuse me, Captain Commander," Dune interrupted.

Yamamoto creaked one eye open to peer just behind captain Chiaki at the new face in the captain's room – though not a new face overall, as Dune had been a teacher at the academy for a rather impressive number of years. Perhaps this is why the older general let the newly instated captain continue.

"I know I haven't had a long time to settle into my division yet," Dune reasoned, "but I'd like to go with my lieutenant on this mission as well. You see, I think she needs a bit of a break, well, somewhere where she won't be pushing herself so hard, and on a mission like this hopefully we can all just remain quietly vigilant. Keeping watch is a good excuse for me to tell her not to go and train."

After a moment of deliberation, the captain commander responded, "Very well, you shall go along with the others."

"When are we leaving?" Hitsugaya inquired in a low voice.

The captain commanders eyes opened once again.

"Now."

**Next chapter features the investigation squad, as well as Kensei and Hisagi, cause who doesn't love those two? :D Anyway, till next time (unless you want to make me super extra happy and leave a review … I don't think I have any of those yet, although I've gotten a number of faves and alerts, so thanks for that. But reviews help motivate me much better!)**


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

**Hey y'all. Wow, we're already on chapter eight… soon we'll be seeing some DRAMA! There's more to Chiaki than her bubbly persona lets on… :D Well, other than that, not much to say this time, so have fun reading about the investigation squad! And thank you for reviewing :D**

**I made a digital picture of Chiaki on Deviantart! I'll put the link up on my profile as soon as I post this chapter. I'll try drawing Dune sometime, too. Also, I'm wondering why I always refer to Chiaki Chihiro by her last name when she's my OC, and a very girly character who would probably be fine with everyone calling her Chihiro… I guess Chiaki's just easier to say.**

~~ Featuring The Mission to Hueco Mundo, Nelliel, Kensei and Hisagi, and Chiaki and Kira~~

Captain Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, Captain Kuchiki and Renji, Captain Ukitake and Ichigo, and Captain Dune and Hinamori stood in front of the senkaimon in the central plaza of Seiretei. It had been only fifteen minutes since the captain's meeting, enough time to pack equipment and get ready for the mission. And finish up ay late lunches that had been being eaten, in Renji's case; it was just after three o'clock.

Matsumoto sighed. "Honestly, I thought maybe we'd get a few years of rest after all that fighting … I need to catch up on my beauty sleep! All this stress is making me tired." Hitsugaya glared at her. "What stress? You haven't done a thing since this whole mess has started!" "Well, it's the thought that counts, and I've been thinking about it plenty," his lieutenant replied, pouting.

"But, you know," Momo interrupted. "I didn't think senkaimons could reach Hueco Mundo."

"Usually they can't," Byakuya said. "But thanks to the data that Captain Kurotchuchi gathered in Las Noches after his fight with the eight espada–" Renji shivered at the memory – "…he was able to alter this one." He paused for a moment.

"…It should be sturdy enough to reach Hueco Mundo."

"What? _Should be_?" Ichigo and Renji yelled simultaneously.

"All right," Ukitake said loudly. "As the leader of this mission, I feel inclined to remind you all that this is primarily an investigational mission." The gathers shinigami relaxed, falling back into formation (if a bit uneasily, at that latest piece of information).

Ukitake continued.

"We don't know the situation we're going into, so we must remain alert at all times. The first thing is to scope out the immediate area around the site of the reiatsu explosion for any dangers. Then we set up the twelfth division's new monitoring equipment…"

"Hopefully _more sturdy_ monitoring equipment," Renji grumbled. Ukitake smiled softly. "Indeed."

"So, in a nutshell," Dune said cheerfully, "Just stay vigilant and don't go into any unnecessary fights. We want to stay out of trouble if at all possible." The other members of the squad nodded.

"All right, then," Ukitake said. The senkaimon opened slowly.

"Let's go!"

* * *

><p>"…So, I suppose it means that the rest of the Visoreds won't have to 'lay low' anymore," Kensei finished, setting his cup of tea on the porch where he and his lieutenant were sitting.<p>

He and Hisagi had stepped out of the printing office for a quick talk – Kensei had been surprised at how busy the ninth division was, and had immediately gotten to work sorting things out and getting back into the patterns of running his old division. It took up most of his time, and he and his new lieutenant hadn't talked about anything other than soul reaper business since their meeting. Well, re-meeting.

Which had been what Hisagi had wanted to talk about, and Kensei supposed he could use a break.

"Maybe they'll be visiting the Seiretei occasionally," Hisagi suggested. Kensei rolled his eyes, hoping the kid wasn't concerned about him _missing_ the bunch of fools. He fingered the edge of his old black gloves, thinking of Mashiro.

"I doubt it. If Lisa's already left then I don't think I'll be seeing any of them for a while."

Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Maybe the next time they _did_ meet, Kensei would be able to put up with all of their antics better. Or not – it had taken him a hundred years of being alone with them to make him (mostly) immune to their quirks, so …

A rustling in the bush to their right caused the pair to turn.

Then, Chiaki popped up out of the bush and shot her whole right arm up, waving it enthusiastically. "KENSEI! Yoo-hoo!"

"What the hell?" Kensei looked, surprised, at the energetic bleach-blonde woman, his eye twitching slightly. "Oh, it's you, the crazy bitch."

"Eh? What was that?" "I called you a crazy bitch." "Oh. Oky-doky then," Chiaki said happily, plopping down to sit beside Kensei, who immediately scooted closer to Hisagi to avoid touching Chiaki.

"So you really don't think any of the visored are going to come back, Kensei?" Chiaki sighed dramatically. "That's a shame. I really wanted to catch up with Otoribashi-taicho." Kensei looked at her sideways. "Catch up with Rose? What, you guys knew eachother?"

"Are you kidding? When I first became a shinigami, I was in the third division, when he was the captain! I haven't always been away on awesome ninja adventures in the ninja squad, you know."

Kensei stopped listening after the word 'awesome', knowing what her phrases tended to be like when they turned opinionated. 'Chiaki-speak', as he began to think of it, was confusing to say the least.

"Erm … so, do you two … know eachother?" Both captains turned to look at Hisagi.

"Why do you think that?" Kensei grumbled.

"It's just, that night, Chi– _Captain_ Chiaki seemed to know you, and she just referred to you by first name, so I was wondering if you were friends, or someth–" "NO. I hardly even know her," Kensei said fervently. "Oh," said Hisagi, taken aback at the quick denial.

"Sure we know eachother! We met yesterday! Wait no, two days ago!" Chiaki sang. "Well, whatever. TIME IS IRRELEVANT! Yay!" She jumped up and twirled in a circle, causing both men to lean back at her quick and unpredictable movements. "There's a rhyme about this, you know. _Another tick of the clock, a second is gone. My watch–_"

"Well, I don't want to hear it. Why are you here?" Kensei grumbled. Chiaki pouted, glaring at him, then blinked and turned away.

"It's really nothing, never mind. I just wanted to see if you reminded me of someone, that's all." She walked down the steps of the short porch and started back towards the third division.

"Eh? What kind of answer is that?" Kensei yelled, again surprised at her sudden change of demeanor. "Either I remind you of someone or I don't; you can't think about it and decide one way or another."

"Yes I can! You're just too narrow-minded!"

"_Oh, shut up!_ Honestly, it's like she tries her best to be annoying," Kensei muttered. Hisagi rubbed his chin. "But, I wonder who she was talking about?" "…Right. OY!" Kensei yelled at Chiaki's retreating figure.

She half-turned. "Yea?"

"So who do I supposedly remind you of?"

"It's a secret!"

Kensei narrowed his eyes. "At least tell me if you've decided or not. So am I like this person?"

Chiaki turned away again. "Like him? Not in the least. Well, I really, really hope you're not."

"So you don't like this guy." Kensei affirmed. "Funny, you don't act like you dislike me." He took a sip of his tea, still staring at her.

"Well," Chiaki said, deliberating. "I di–" she stopped and seemed to change what she was saying mid-sentence. "Actually we were best friends, once. I think."

Kensei blinked. "What?"

Chiaki waved and flash stepped away.

There was a brief silence, broken when Kensei sighed. "Well, it's almost five o'clock now. We'd better go back in and help everyone wrap things up if we want to get done with the newspaper work by six." Hisagi nodded. There was still other work to do, after all.

* * *

><p>IN the Menos Forest, a quick surveillance had been done, and finding nothing out of the ordinary (other than the expected dense mass of 'pure' spirit power in the caverns) the soul reapers quickly set up the monitoring equipment.<p>

That's when Captain Dune sent an alarm from up above the menos forest.

"It's an arrancar!"

The other captains and vice-captains rushed up. "Vasto-lord class by the feel of this reiatsu!" Momo observed, worried.

Renji squinted. "What the hell? Does it have green hair?" Rangiku rolled her eyes. "Like you're one to talk, Red Pineapple." Renji growled. "That's not what I meant!" "Then what DID you mean?" "Welllll…" Renji grumbled, "…I don't really know," he admitted.

"Guys," Ichigo interrupted, speaking slowly while staring at the fuzzy humanoid shape. Hueco Mundo's dust was obscuring his vision … "Wait a minute–"

Dune stepped up. "Ichigo's right, instead of having a friendly bicker; we should analyze this arrancar's strengths and possible weaknesses. Hinamori, you take right, I'll go left. Stay at a good distance, we don't know the possible speed at which she can cover ground." He flashed stepped away, with his lieutenant following suite close behind him.

"No, wait – HEY!" Ichigo said. He turned back to the vague figure of the arrancar – _there's no way…_

"Matsumoto, follow up Dune, I'll block the back. We'll surround her," Hitsugaya ordered, flash-stepping away as he did so.

"WAIT, you're not listening to me!" Ichigo said, his irritation (and alarm) increasing as Rangiku ran off as well. "What happened to _'don't go into any unnecessary fights'_? Will you just hold off until I've … checked something?"

"Hah – it's okay Ichigo, you can stay here and watch if you want," Renji said, grinning. "We can take care of this oursOOUFH."

Extracting his fist from his friends' stomach, Ichigo glared down at Renji. "I said LISTEN! And, for the record, I could more than handle a fight with any arrancar on my–"

"Ichigo-san, please," Ukitake said calmingly. "Is there something wrong?"

Ichigo looked up at his new captain. "Actually, yes. Could you convince Dunce and Toshiro to back off? I think I know this arrancar."

Captain Kuchiki frowned. "Know? You mean, you've encountered her before, when you entered Hueco Mundo to rescue your human friend…?" "Orihime, and yea," Ichigo said, ignoring Renji's muttered insults.

"But that's impossible," Captain Kuchiki said, looking with marginally narrowed eyes at Ichigo. "By the feel of her reiatsu she must have been a member of Aizen's espada, and none of those are alive any longer; the twelfth's made sure to monitor the reiatsu in Las Noches carefully."

"Well, technically, yes," Ichigo said. "At one point, she was the third espada, but you s–" "THIRD?" Renji and Ukitake shouted. Even Byakuya blinked in surprise. "Shoot! In that case…" Ukitake flash stepped towards the arrancar, who was observing the four shinigami circling her curiously, but not in a particularly worried manner. "AH! Wait! Taicho!" Ichigo shouted, running after his captain as well.

"Let's go, Renji," Byakuya said coolly.

"Yes sir!"

* * *

><p><em>Another tick of the clock. A second has gone. My watch hasn't stopped. It's really been this long. <em>

_It's odd how I hate to _not_ miss you. You'd think to forget would be bliss, too._

_But here I am, purposefully keeping this memory. I can't keep it locked; you already gave me its key. Or maybe I picked it up when it was dropped on the floor. Or maybe I stole it; I've done so before._

_Masochistic. I don't gain anything from thinking this through. Everything I became, I now simply am, so I don't need you…_

Chiaki sighed and stopped reading a fourth of the way down the poem. "Oh well, I guess that wasn't really the right context to use that poem after all. I need to write something else." It was twilight, now that the sun had set.

She put her brush away and put her poem into the desk that she was sitting at. Her desk; the captain's desk. That poem was the first paper in it after it had been cleared out from the last captain. "Fitting," Chiaki mused. "It _would_ be a poem about _him_."

After a slight pause, she looked up again and called, "Is something wrong? Or do you usually stay in the office this late?"

"Oh! Um," Kira said.

"Not really. But these are the last of the papers regarding the disturbance in the menos forest." Chiaki noticed that he held a small folder full of leaflets. "…And in the morning I suppose we'll be getting another report, so I wanted to organize them…"

Chiaki smiled. "Sure! All right, where did Gin usually put the new reports that will be needed to be referenced soon?" She looked around, but there weren't any organizational baskets on the desk.

"…Actually, I usually did that myself, and I just used the Captain's desk; Captain Ichimaru said …he didn't mind." Chiaki blinked.

"Okay then." She opened the drawer that she had just put the poem in, stared at it for a minute, before putting in on top of the desk and taking the folder from Kira, placing it on the desk as well. She handed him the paper that had her poem written on it.

"Burn this, please."

Kira blinked in surprise as Chiaki took the papers out of the folder and flipped through them. He glanced down at the paper, curious, when he saw that it wasn't some old report that had remained in the desk by some accident, but something that appeared to be someone's poem. He scanned the last lines.

_I like fooling myself. I'm going to pretend. In my cloudy memory, I'll call you my friend._

_I'll say that you called me _your_ friend. It's okay now, since I'll never see you again._

"That's rather … bittersweet," Kira said, trying to think of the right word. Chiaki looked up, confused as to what he was talking about, until she saw him looking at the paper.

She snatched it back; an automatic reaction. Then froze for half a second before relaxing and finally, sighing happily.

"That's the point … I think. I just kind of ranted on paper." She gave a coy grin.

"…'ranted'? Ah – you wrote that? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have read it. Here, I'll go burn it now." Kira held out his hands for the poem.

"Nope. No burning this one. If I'm keeping the memory, then I won't do it halfway." She opened another drawer in the desk and put it in.

A few seconds after closing the drawer, she opened it again, peering inside. Then she tried to take the drawer out of the desk. Something made a clicking sound when she did. Suspicious, she kneeled down to look at the drawer better.

"Um … Captain Chiaki? What are you doing?" Kira said, worried.

"Hold on a minute…" she replied. Taking the paper out of the drawer and placing it face-down on the desk once more, Chiaki began to feel along the bottom of the drawer. Moving to the back, she felt a small knob. "Ah-ha." She pressed down on it, and heard a _ka-chunk._

Popping up, she looked around. "What was that? See anything?" She asked her lieutenant.

"There's a small drawer that just popped up on the left of the desk, yes. Actually, this desk has a few hidden drawers. There's a hidden drawer in this hidden drawer, actually."

Chiaki pouted. "Aw, so you knew about it? I was hoping to wow you with my awesome ninja skills." She winked. Kira stayed silent, not sure how to respond to that, but Chiaki didn't seem to notice. She moved to the left of the desk and spared the drawer a quick glance before closing it. It was empty.

"Yea, that's just like him," she sighed. "Doing something interesting like that and not leaving anything to show for it. Empty drawer, my ass." It came out in a playful grumble, but she was staring at the desk like she wished it to burst into flame.

"Umm…?" Kira said again, wondering how many spontaneous mood changes his captain was going to go through.

"Oh, sorry," Chiaki said cheerfully. "So now that we're done with a long day of meetings and formal stuff, would you like some tea?"

**And here I end Chapter eight. I'm currently busy reviving my sort-of-dead other fic, 'Crazy People, These Arrancar', so the next update might be a bit slow (that's why this one was slow, too). SO, here are some sneak previews of Chapter Nine to make up for the probably long wait that you'll have.**

* * *

><p>"I was always chasing after him, you know," said Chiaki suddenly. Kira blinked. "Who?"<p>

"Ichimaru Gin."

Kira stared at her blankly. "…What?"

"We were in the Shino Academy together … It bothered me _so much_ … that a guy like that was the top of our year. It didn't even seem like he was trying! I worked so hard and always came second to him – in every test, every sparring session, every field exam. I was the second highest ranked in our class, and I always told myself that I'd be perfectly happy in that position if it had been _anyone else_ in the first spot…"

~.~.~

"What the hell are you doing, Kurosaki?" Hitsugaya yelled as they locked blades.

"Look, would you_ all_ just calm down and _listen_ to me for a second?" Ichigo shouted back.

"Ichigo, back down! That's an order!" Ukitake said sternly. "But, sir–!" "I understand, but rest assured, you don't need to be concerned. However strong this arrancar that you remember is, four captains and four lieutenants can stop her."

"Yes, but … I DON'T _WANT_ YOU TO STOP HER!"

Ukitake sighed. "Look, the situation–" "Uh, Captain Ukitake, actually…" Renji interrupted, putting down his blade. "I think I just remembered why this arrancar looks so familiar." His captain glared at him for breaking rank, but Renji kept looking at Captain Ukitake, who was staring at Renji in shock for turning his back on the (supposed) enemy.

"…So are you done attacking me now?" The arrancar said.

"If you're who I think you are, yea," Renji said.

"Why don't you ask Itsygo," She suggested.

"…Not necessary. Now I know for sure," Renji replied, grinning. Behind him, Ichigo twitched. _Itsygo? Seriously?_

_Well, at least I know for sure that it's Nel._

~.~.~

"Were you ever unsettled by Gin's demeanor?" Kira was taken aback by the sudden question. "Well … I suppose at first. Occasionally."

"Well, you probably already know this," Chiaki said, "but Gin's usual demeanor isn't so scary in comparison to him when he's pissed off." She blew on her tea again.

"You see, I did something bad. Selfish, even, now that I look back on its consequences. Probably I should apologize."

Kira sighed. "To whom? Captain Ichimaru is…"

"To Matsumoto Rangiku. I caused a rather big argument between her and Gin, but she never found out that I was its cause."

~.~.~

_I just HIT him. What the hell. He could have dogged that easily._ I froze in my hesitation, so I didn't react in time to stop Gin's sweeping kick that knocked my off my feet. I managed to brace my fall, but I hit my elbow so hard my whole arm went numb.

I didn't give him a chance to speak again, though.

"You want to know the truth? Fine! I hate you! I wish you never existed! I'm not the only one! You!" I scrambled up, panting, and took a step back. What was I saying? Did I even have anything planned to say? No, I…

"You, everyone hates you! You're weird! A creep! You're not like everyone else! There are people that are special, and there are people that are FREAKS! Just leave me alone! I HATE you!"

I turned and ran.

He didn't follow after me.

Yea, Chihiro. _Steal his necklace_ in order to get _closer_ to him. Then scream at him that you hate him right in front of his squad's barracks where everyone must have heard.

That backfired stupendously.

~.~.~

"Ah…don't get me wrong, I'm all for making new friends, but…" Dune looked at his wrists, which were numb from the force of the arrancars' sword. And she hadn't even been putting any force into it! "…I don't think this is the time or place to be acting chummy towards hollows."

"The law must be upheld," Byakuya agreed. "And this is the most ancient and basic of our rules."

"Whoa, what? Wait … no way!" Ichigo said, shocked.

"…Sorry Ichigo. But as the leader of this mission, I'm going to have to insist …," Ukitake looked at him squarely.

"This arrancar, whether a previous friend or not, must be killed!"

**Oooh… see? Like I said. Drama!**

**Don't forget to see the picture of Chiaki on my account! :D**


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

**First… Hey y'all! In case you forgot, so far:**

_Captain Ukitake and Ichigo, Captain Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, Captain Kuchiki and Renji, and Captain Dune and Hinamori arrived in Hueco Mundo and unexpectedly encountered the now-adult arrancar Nell. They began to fight her, against Ichigo's wishes. Then, we get some insight to Chiaki's past with Gin._

**Two awesome things, first. If you don't care (since it's not about the story) then skip the note and go to the story. First of all, I GOT A TABLET! Like, an art tablet, to draw on, that hooks up to the computer **_**and it's cool**_** … I'm not very good at using it yet though. :P**

**And now, much more importantly… MAJOR spoilers for most recent Bleach Manga, skip this part if you haven't read it yet…**

* * *

><p>HE'S <span>BACK<span>! **KENSEI'S FUCKING ****BACK****!** _HELL_ YES!

I wish his entrance could have been a little more dramatic, but OH MY FLIPPING _GOD_ **KENSEI IS BACK** YESSS! Maybe I should elaborate here … he's back AS THE **CAPTAIN**** OF DIVISION NINE**, FUCKERS! My life is **COMPLETE**~! (I don't usually swear this much, but I'm just _so freakin' exited!) _Oh yea, Shinji and Rose are back too (captains of division three and five, respectively) but I don't really care about Rose – although I'm curious as to how Kira's gonna deal with such an … 'extravagant' _(eccentric)_ guy – oh wait, he's already doing that in this story with Chiaki. ;) …And while Shinji is awesome, I'm half-scared, half-exited to see he and Hinamori's interaction … they just don't seem like they would mesh well. But it could be interesting.

BUT **KENSEI AND HISAGI**. YESSSSS. I have been waiting for this day for **160 manga chapters**! *fangirl squeal*

* * *

><p><strong>*cough* Anyway, continue reading (while I dance in the corner) And in a (rather late) response to a reviewer, when I said<strong> "finish up ay late lunches"** at the beginning of the last chapter, I meant 'ANY late lunches'. :P Sorry, poor editing! Anyway, read on :D and thanks for reviewing! (To make up for my rather late posting, this chapter is the longest yet. Over four thousand words!~)**

~~ Featuring Ichigo, Nelliel, Chiaki, Kira, and … Ichimaru Gin?~~

* * *

><p>It was dark outside the third division's office, the only light source coming from the lamps lit inside the building that shone dimly through the open door. The light illuminated two people; Kira and Chiaki, sitting on the porch – it was a warm night, if dark. There was a long silence between them.<p>

"I was always chasing after him, you know," said Chiaki suddenly. Kira blinked. "Who?"

"Ichimaru Gin."

Kira stared at her blankly. "…What?"

"We were in the Shino Academy together – well, we enrolled in the same year. He graduated in one, it took me three. I was pushing it. Back then, I was completely different than how I am now. All work and no play; very motivated. Now I'm more… go with the flow." She took a sip out of her teacup.

"It bothered me _so much_ … that a guy like that was the top of our year. It didn't even seem like he was trying! I worked so hard and always came second to him – in every test, every sparring session, every field exam. I was the second highest ranked in our class, and I always told myself that I'd be perfectly happy in that position if it had been _anyone else_ in the first spot.

"I turned everything into a competition. If he spent two hours practicing Kido, I'd spend three. If he wrote four pages on an essay, I wrote five. But still, nothing changed. All of my friends said that I was a genius, but it didn't matter, because it felt like he trumped me with little to no effort at every turn. I–" Chiaki blinked at the sound of a glass cracking and quickly put down her teacup. "…Looking back, I don't know if he even realized that I was pitting myself against him. Hell, he probably did, actually. That boy was…" She shook her head marginally.

"Anyway. Eventually, he graduated. And I didn't. I remember being pretty shocked; so our rivalry was entirely one-sided after all. He never saw me as enough of a challenge to stick around. Well, to put it mildly, I was pissed. Instead of giving up, though, I worked even harder. Two years later I was out of the academy and a recognized but unseated officer in the third division.

"I still didn't slow down. Otoribashi-taicho called me a workaholic. My brother called me obsessed. He had no clue.

"By then I was the proud but still unsatisfied fourteenth seat of the third division. I thought I was making good headway. But I hadn't so much as seen Gin since he graduated – and that was four years ago by that time.

Chiaki poured herself another cup of tea. "Then I heard that he had become the third seat of the fifth division." She blew on her tea, which was still too hot to drink.

"I rose six seats in two years. He rose seventeen in four. I was still losing, but by much more now. Plus, he wasn't there for me to motivate myself. I made the connection that I worked better when I was actively fighting against him – or maybe that's just the excuse I used for what I did next. I guess I just wanted him to remember that I existed. Well, it worked. Say," Chiaki said, looking at Kira suddenly. "Were you ever unsettled by Gin's demeanor?"

Kira was taken aback by the sudden question. "Well … I suppose at first. Occasionally."

"Well, you probably already know this," Chiaki said, "but Gin's usual demeanor isn't so scary in comparison to him when he's pissed off." She blew on her tea again.

"You see, I did something bad. Selfish, even, now that I look back on its consequences. Probably I should apologize."

Kira sighed. "To whom? Captain Ichimaru is…"

"To Matsumoto Rangiku. I caused a rather big argument between her and Gin, but she never found out that I was its cause. …I wonder if I fooled Gin about it... You know, it really wasn't my original intention," Chiaki insisted. "I was just trying to get a reaction out of Gin. So…"

"…So…?" Kira said, interested.

"Well, one night I snuck into his room – it was full of booby traps, but I expected that – and stole this thing of his. It was just this thin chain with a hoop on one end and a small crystal on the other. No idea where he got it from, but he always wore it in the academy. It was a necklace; the crystal fit through the hoop and the chain made a very adjustable loop. It was cute and interesting and unique… sound familiar?"

Kira blinked. "I never saw captain Ichimaru wear anything like that, no."

Chiaki looked down, smiling a bit. "Rangiku has it now." "Oh You mean the chain she always wears?" "That's the one. You see, I took it, and of course I was careful not to leave any reiatsu traces, but I figured he'd confront me about it. He did. And…"

* * *

><p><em>Clash, clink, tink.<em> The sounds of blades locking filled the air of Hueco Mundo as the four captains and three lieutenants circled and attacked the green-haired arrancar. She was pushing back their attacks with little effort, but they were only testing her out, after all.

Suddenly, Ichigo jumped into the fray, knocking aside Renji and jumping in front of Hitsugaya, who had been about to strike at the arrancar's back.

"What the hell are you doing, Kurosaki?" Hitsugaya yelled as they locked blades.

"Look, would you_ all_ just calm down and _listen_ to me for a second?" Ichigo shouted back.

"Ichigo, back down! That's an order!" Ukitake said sternly.

"But, sir–!"

"I understand, but rest assured, you don't need to be concerned. However strong this arrancar that you remember is, four captains and four lieutenants can stop her."

"Yes, but … I DON'T _WANT_ YOU TO STOP HER!"

Ukitake sighed. "Look, the situation–"

"Uh, Captain Ukitake, actually…" Renji interrupted, putting down his blade. "I think I just remembered why this arrancar looks so familiar." His captain glared at him for breaking rank, but Renji kept looking at Captain Ukitake, who was staring at Renji in shock for turning his back on the (supposed) enemy.

"…So are you done attacking me now?" The arrancar said.

"If you're who I think you are, yea," Renji said.

"Why don't you ask Itsygo," She suggested.

"…Not necessary. Now I know for sure," Renji replied, grinning. Behind him, Ichigo twitched. _Itsygo? Seriously?_

_Well, at least I know for sure that it's Nel._

"Whoa, whoa, wait," Dune said. "How does this arrancar know your name, Kurosaki-fukutaicho?"

"Um, Just Ichigo is okay, and we met when I went to rescue Orihime from Aizen during the winter war. She's friendly."

"…A friendly hollow? That seems … unlikely," Hinamori said, in the understatement of the century. "Besides I could have sworn I say a number on her back – doesn't that mean that she's an espada?"

"There's a number three on her back," Matsumoto confirmed. Hitsugaya's eyes widened. "Three? That's impossible! I fought the third espada during the war. She wasn't this one."

"I was the _trecera_ that preceded Hallibel-san," Nel declared.

Dune cocked his head, trying to reason out the ways in which the hollows organized themselves. "Preceded? Does that mean she took your position because she was stronger?"

"I was ambushed by … someone who disliked me, and thrown out of Las Noches, wounded." "That's harsh," Matsumoto chimed.

"I was wandering the desert until I met Ichigo a few months ago, in the form of a child. He helped me return to the form I have now."

"…Yea, but you turned back into a kid right before you could defeat that fifth-espada guy who's ass you were kicking," Ichigo interrupted, confused. "How are you like this now?"

"It's the reiatsu disturbance," Kuchiki realized.

Meanwhile, the others cast apprehensive glances at the green-haired former espada (minus Dune, who wasn't in the winter war, and Renji, who was fine with Nel), realizing how strong she must be in comparison to the fifth espada. "It must have given her a surge in power."

"Oh! That's right!" Dune said, tapping his fist in his other palm. "So the pure reiryoku can bind with other reiatsu, and the combined reiatsu would be in larger quantities, making it stronger… What a unique phenomenon, reiryoku suddenly changing type like this; we'll have to inform the… uh oh. Wait, this isn't good."

Renji looked at him, surprised at the sudden change of tone. "What isn't good?" Beside him, Hinamori nodded in understanding. "If this happen once, it can happen a dozen more times. Any hollow that comes across this spot will experience this increase in power," She clarified solemnly. "And the amount of pure reiryoku is growing mysteriously, remember? Soon…"

"Soon this may be affecting hollows all over Hueco Mundo," Ukitake finished, turning to his new lieutenant. "Ichigo, how does her reiatsu compare to when you felt it last? Just a rough estimate, please."

"Uh … I'd say … it's almost twice as strong," Ichigo said uncertainly, glancing at Nelliel, who grinned at him. He'd gotten a lot better at the finer points of reiatsu control and sensing after Rukia's impromptu kido lesson, but back then he hadn't been as good – plus he had been more interested in marveling at Nel's new form and power. Around him, the soul reapers were casting dark glances at one another. Even Renji looked somber now.

"…Well, we'll just have to find a way to stop the growth of the reiatsu thingy," Ichigo said in a final tone, not liking the heavy atmosphere. "We're here to set up the twelfth division stuff, and we did that, right? They should be able to monitor it now. So I guess we can just stay here and fight off any hollows that try and come near this place until they come up with a solution. Right?" he pressed.

"…Well, we will have to do that, yes," Ukitake said. "We can't have a countless number of hollows flooding here to become empowered. It would be the winter war all over again." Cue grimacing from the soul reapers and a confused look from Nelliel, who (Ichigo just realized) probably didn't know anything about the war.

"…And about this one…" Ukitake turned to Nelliel.

"Oh, yea. Nel, can you help us monitor the hollows?" Ichigo thought for a moment. "Were you strongly attracted to this place or something?"

"No, I was just playing up here when the ground caved in. Then me 'n my bros fell into the forest and the energy just … well, when I woke up, I was like this," she gestured to her body.

"Okay, well, at least hollows won't be 'called' here," Ichigo said. "So, we can use Nel to help keep watch over the area, too. She blends in more than us, y'know, being a hollow and all."

…Dead silence.

"Uh … guys?"

"Yea, um…don't get me wrong, I'm all for making new friends, but…" Dune looked at his wrists, which were still numb from the force of the arrancars' sword. And she hadn't even been putting any force into it! "…I don't think this is the time or place to be acting chummy towards hollows."

"The law must be upheld," Byakuya agreed. "And this is the most ancient and basic of our rules."

"Whoa, what? Wait … no way!" Ichigo said, shocked.

"…Sorry Ichigo. But as the leader of this mission, I'm going to have to insist …," Ukitake looked at him squarely. "This arrancar, whether a previous friend or not, must be killed!"

"But you can't be serious!" Ichigo protested. "Nel isn't dangerous at all. Okay, yes she is. But not to us – she's my friend!"

"I think I wanna support Ichigo here," Renji said. "Nel saved Ichigo's life. She's not against us!"

Nelliel raised a hand. "Nel would never hurt Itsygo or pineapple –" "Who's a pineapple?" "–or Itsygo's taicho and friends!" "Can you learn to pronounce my name right?" "Nel is as surprised as you are about this strange force in the menos forest. It's causing the world to be lopsided."

"She's right about that," Hitsugaya said. "If the reiatsu is multiplying off itself – which is supposed to be impossible – the concentration of reiatsu in Hueco Mundo will be too mucho for the dimension to contain, and it would explode, causing the hundreds of thousands of hollows to invade the soul society and the world of the living."

"Well, shit." Ichigo said. "No one told me about that! Can't we–"

"Right now, we wait for the twelfth to find the source of the reiatsu. In the meantime, we have to prevent any hollows from becoming empowered." Hitsugaya lifted his sword and pointed it at Nelliel. "And stop those who already have." Beside him, Matsumoto mimicked her captain and raised her sword.

"–You don't know what else that reiatsu had done, Ichigo," Ukitake said before the redhead could make an outburst. "For all we know, it's messed with her mind as well. This is dangerous and uncharted territory."

"I see your point, captain Ukitake," Renji interjected. "But we don't know for sure that that's the case. Any anyway, wouldn't she be a good test subject to monitor? See what effect the reiatsu really has?" Ukitake hesitated.

"Yea! Good one, Renji!" Ichigo said. "…I mean, valid point," he corrected in a businesslike voice after a glare from Renji's captain.

"What're we to do in the meantime?" Hinamori questioned, alternating glances between Nelliel, whose sword was back in her sheath, and Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, whose swords were still pointed at the arrancar. "Is she just going to stick around?" _…What if she really IS dangerous, and snaps in the middle of the night?_

Suddenly – "HOLD UP THERE!" Everyone jumped at the sound of the new and unexpected voice.

"…NOBODY'S GONNA BE A-POINTIN' THEIR SWORD AT OUT SISTER, DON'CHA KNOW!"

* * *

><p><em>Nice start to my second year as an official member of division three.<em> My heart was beating fast for a number of reasons. I hadn't seen him for four years…

And he was _shouting_? That was … beyond odd. Ichimaru Gin _never_ shouted. Or displayed any emotion, really. I marveled at it. Him.

"The only reason I'm confronting you about it now is to be polite – otherwise I'd have just ransacked your room! I probably should have, I _know_ you took it!" Gin had his feet firmly planted in the middle of the street that I was trying to walk through, and didn't look like he was budging.

I tried to look annoyed while still musing about his display of irritation; was the trinket really that important? Was he having a bad day? Did he really dislike me? A bitter expression wasn't hard to muster; it was dinner time, after all – I was late, and Captain Rose (as everyone called him) would scold me.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Don't just come to the first random person you can think of and blame your missing jewelry on them!" I snapped. "That strawberry blonde friend of yours probably has it."

"You're not looking at me. I _know_ you're lying. Why don't you just tell me the truth? I don't even care why you took it, I just want it back." He was trying to be reasonable?

"Shut up! Would you just leave me alone!" I spun around and started back towards the third division. Hmm. _You really could have thought this through better, Chihiro. But I didn't take into account the fact that I would react so strangely to seeing him after he was gone for four years_.

I was stopped when a hand caught my wrist. _Holy crap, _I thought. _Someone touching you isn't supposed to make your heart react like this, either…this guy really is messing up my brain._

So I did the first think I could think of. I spun around (_I'm just slightly taller than him, I noticed)_ and punched him squarely in the jaw.

He fell down.

_I just HIT him. _

_What the hell. He could have dogged that easily._

I froze in my hesitation, so I didn't react in time to stop Gin's sweeping kick that knocked my off my feet. I managed to brace my fall, but I hit my elbow so hard my whole arm went numb.

I didn't give him a chance to speak again, though.

"You want to know the truth? Fine! I hate you! I wish you never existed! I'm not the only one! You!" I scrambled up, panting, and took a step back. What was I saying? Did I even have anything planned to say? No, I…

"You, everyone hates you! You're weird! A creep! You're not like everyone else! There are people that are special, and there are people that are FREAKS! Just leave me alone! I HATE you!"

I turned and ran.

He didn't follow after me.

Yea, Chihiro. _Steal his necklace_ in order to get _closer_ to him. Then scream at him that you hate him right in front of his squad's barracks where everyone must have heard.

That backfired stupendously.

* * *

><p>"I suppose that wasn't the best move," Kira said finally, breaking the second long silence that night.<p>

"I know, right? I thought for sure he would hate me after that," Chiaki replied. "That's why I was so confused when I woke up the next morning and outside my door was a bouquet of flowers."

"Eh? Flowers? Like … roses?"

"Nope. That's a cute expression, by the way. These were wildflowers, nothing that you could have picked up in a shop somewhere. You'd have had to done and pick them yourself. Which, naturally, made me even more pissed off."

"You were quite … hotheaded, weren't you?"

"Hell yea!"

* * *

><p>I threw a crushed handful of purple wildflowers on top of the desk that Gin was sitting at. "What the hell is this, some kind of joke?"<p>

"Mah, mah," he said, grinning. "Whatever are ya talkin' about, Chi-chan?"

What. The fuck. _Chi-chan?_

My face is red due to anger. My face is red due to anger. My face is red due to anger. ANGER.

"I … you … I told you to stay…" No way was I going to repeat the words from last night. "Flowers? What the hell, G – what the hell?" I was so mad I couldn't say his name, that was all. And my face is red due to _anger_.

He was peering over the flowers, looking contemplative. "Well, they appear ta be periwinkles. But I dunno why ya felt the need ta come all'a way over to the fifth division and bother a third seat wi' something' like this. _Chi-chan_."

I stood there in pure, blank confusion for a few seconds until I realized.

He was pretending they weren't from him. Like I pretended that I didn't steal that chain.

I could see it now – until I confessed to it, every day, something else. A prank. An embarrassing gift. An I-don't-know-what.

So we were playing a _game_.

All of a sudden my eyes got misty with the moisture you get when you're trying to suppress grinning or laughing out loud. I must have had a pretty weird expression, what with grimacing to hide my smile, and my teary eyes. I probably looked like I was going to start crying at him.

Good.

I arranged my mouth into a snarl. "Nevermind! Good _day_, _Third-Seat _Ichimaru!" I snarled in a voice to match my expression. I whipped around and marched out of the office with fake indignity.

He was playing a game with me. So. I had my rival back. This is one game I would be SURE to win.

No matter what.

* * *

><p>"…and for a while, that was it. But pretty soon – oh dear!" Chikai said suddenly.<p>

Kira jumped at the sudden change of 'story-telling mode voice' to 'surprised voice'. "Eh? What? Is something wrong?"

"I think we'd better go to bed." Chiaki said, pointing at the horizon, where the sun was just barely starting to color the clouds. "Time flies. _Another tick of the clock. A second has gone. My watch hasn't stopped. It's really been this long… _Soon we'll be getting reports from Dune and the others. Hmm, I hope they're doing well!" She got up and stretched.

"Indeed," Kira mumbled. "It seems like a risky mission to me." He blinked slowly, realizing how tired he was.

"Well, it's an emergency situation, what can you do," Chiaki sighed. "We'll worry about it tomorrow. 'Night."

"Good night, Captain Chiaki."

Kira turned, and Chiaki made her way back into the office.

Usually, each captain had their own house (or mansion if they were rich), but Chiaki had been living away from the Seiretei during her time in the second squad, so she was currently living in the Captain's quarters that each squad barracks included. She re-read her poem as she walked (luckily, she has practiced in walk-reading, so she didn't crash into things.)

_Another tick of the clock. A second has gone. My watch hasn't stopped. It's really been this long._

_It's odd how I hate to not miss you. You'd think to forget would be bliss, too._

_But here I am, purposefully keeping this memory. I can't keep it locked; you already gave me its key. Or maybe I picked it up when it was dropped on the floor. Or maybe I stole it; I've done so before._

_Masochistic. I don't gain anything from thinking this through. Everything I became, I now simply am, so I don't need you…_

She reached the door to her personal captain's quarters as she picked up the line from where she had left off earlier. Her room was simple, as she hadn't been in the Seiretei long enough to collect personal items.

A bed – well, a traditional straw mat with some non-traditional super fluffy pillows and blankets, just the way she liked it. A low table, some squishy chairs. A classical Japanese haiku given to her by her brother when she had graduate the academy, hung on the wall; _When Sakura/ Scatter/ No regrets. _

It fits Byakuya more, she thought, turning back to her own poem.

_But I like you. I liked you a lot, even though I took pleasure from what you were not. Or were you? I know it's cliché to wonder, "Was it all lies?" But I can't remember. Please open my eyes._

_I realized it, when we first met. Lying is in your nature. You escape through the smallest hole in the net …_

_And so I hated you._

_Because I was constantly caught. You swam free while I stayed distraught._

_So I chased you. To prove I was strong. But then you passed me by before long…_

_I'm glad I got mad, when I thought you thought that I didn't matter. You left me behind so carelessly it was an art; a worthless jewel forgotten on a platter._

_I was rash. I'm glad I stole that key. The ticket to this memory, so the lock can never be._

_And then … you acknowledged me._

_You wanted it back. So I denied everything. Now I held the power with this knick-knack._

_But I still couldn't keep your _mind_. You remained a mystery. Why did you do the things you did? You left no hints for me._

_Now I chased happily, for you made it a game. "Eventually he'll see," said I. "We are one and the same." I wanted to keep you around. I liked it when you said my name._

_I'm still wondering. Did you ever really see me? Or was I just another net to slip through and leave? Another challenge, another season. Or did you have a simpler reason?  
><em>

_I still like you, your vaguely sharp memory. I can't slip through the net, but I can surf the sea._

_I liked you a lot, even though I took pleasure from what you were not._

_I like fooling myself. I'm going to pretend. In my cloudy memory, I'll call you my friend. I'll say that you called me your friend. It's okay now, since I'll never see you again._

"I need new bedtime reading material," Chiaki declared, setting the poem beside her mat and blowing out the last lamp in her room.

* * *

><p>…<strong>Hmm. Seems to me like Chiaki has a c~r~u~s~h! <strong>

**Reviews are always appreciated!**


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

**Some more art is up on my profile: One of Chiaki, Dune, and Kensei, and one of the new version of Pesche and Dondochakka. **

**Anyway, now comes the turning point, sort of … **

~~ Featuring Ichigo, Nelliel, Kira, Chiaki, and Kensei ~~

"_If the reiatsu is multiplying off itself – which is supposed to be impossible – the concentration of reiatsu in Hueco Mundo will be too much for the dimension to contain, and it would explode, causing the hundreds of thousands of hollows to invade the soul society and the world of the living." _

"_Well, shit." Ichigo said. "No one told me about that! Can't we–"_

"_Right now, we wait for the twelfth to find the source of the reiatsu. In the meantime, we have to prevent any hollows from becoming empowered." Hitsugaya lifted his sword and pointed it at Nelliel. "And stop those who already have." _

"–_You don't know what else that reiatsu had done, Ichigo," Ukitake said before the redhead could make an outburst. "For all we know, it's messed with her mind as well. This is dangerous and uncharted territory…"_

"_HOLD UP THERE! NOBODY'S GONNA BE A-POINTIN' THEIR SWORD AT OUT SISTER, DON'CHA KNOW!"_

There was a large puff of sand as the desert near the gathering of shinigami exploded. The four captains and their lieutenants spun around ad the unexpected intrusion, while Nelliel perked up happily. "You guys finally made it out!" She said. "I was worried. You took so long."

"Our reiatsu isn't as strong as yours, Nelliel-sama," Pesche said, emerging from the sandy cloud. "It took us longer to adjust to the reiatsu change."

Ichigo and Renji stared in surprised; was this really the same awkward, antlike goofball of a hollow that had been tagging around Nel all those months ago? The antlike mask covering his face was gone, revealing golden eyes and shaggy blonde hair. His outfit was changed as well: No more loincloth, but a long purple scarf was wrapped around his neck, partly covering a Grimmjow-like jacket and a bare (not-so-muscle-y) chest. He had a glove on his right hand and a square purple marking on his right eye.

"It does feel weird, don'cha know," Dondochakka agreed, following his so-called brother out of the dust.

"…These can't be _those two_, can they?" Renji muttered. "There's no way Dondochakka turned into _that._"

Ichigo had to agree. The previously tikki-head hollow was tall, muscled, and tan, sporting pinkish circular markings on his chin and bald forehead, reminiscent of some of the markings on his old mask. He was wearing a baggy set of yellow sweatpants and carried a matching cloak with black dots over the shoulders.

Something was odd here. Okay, well, the whole situation was odd. But something was particularly off about it –

"It looks like you two did okay. I thought you would look identical to how you did before … we _left_ Las Noches, but it's not the same," Nelliel said with only a slight hesitation.

"D'ja hear that, Pesche? She thinks we look sexy. Don'cha know!"

"…I didn't say that."

"Nel." Said arrancar turned around to look at Ichigo. "Yes, Itsygo? Oh," she looked around at the other shinigami, whose reactions ranged from confused to wary to stunned. "Right, I'd prefer it if you guys didn't attack me. Us," She corrected, as her two companions shuffled. "I don't like fighting."

"Nel," Ichigo repeated, insistent. "Where's your hollow mask?"

* * *

><p>Chiaki yawned. Blinked. What?<p>

Oh. Sometime in the night she must have tossed – her straw-mat bed was lying on top of her. It was blocking the light. What time was it? Sleeping until noon on her second – third? – official day as a captain wasn't good. She shoved it off, but the light change wasn't much different. It looks like the years of living in the Advanced Patrol hadn't left her. Retire late, rise early – she never slept much anyway. Crap, no clock in her sparse (but spacious) room.

"Well, I'm up now. What to do…" Peeking out of her window (like a spy!) she surveyed the courtyard. No one. He had a view of the third's mess hall from here as well. Empty. The sky was only just beginning to lighten.

Chiaki changed into her captain's uniform and creeped out of her quarter's, heading for the office. She glanced at the clock. Only 5:00 – most soul reapers didn't report until 7:30 or so.

There was a thin folder on her desk.

"Oh, right!" Chiaki chirped quietly, and began to leaf though it. Yesterday, she had instructed a higher seat of the twelfth to bring a copy of any reports from the investigation squad on Hueco Mundo to her. Hey, it was interesting! And she liked to be on top of things…

Chiaki's eyes narrowed.

This was … strange. Under a brief list of times, the only reported events were:

_-Monitoring equipment active. _

_-Pure reiryoku detected. Analysis beginning._

_-Abnormal reiatsu detected. Three unrecognized signatures._

_-KUCHIKI BYAKUYA: Reiatsu detected above Menos forest. Investigating._

The people there were supposed to be personally sending in reports every two hours, or immediately on a sign of something out of the ordinary. There were three reports from the machine, and one report from Kuchiki-taicho.

That was not good.

If any of the team's reiatsu had disappeared, the machine would have logged that was well. So they hadn't all been killed by this hollow – or whatever it was. But did that mean they were still fighting it? Chiaki checked the recorded time of the report. It had been awhile ago. What was going on?

Well, the twelfth was probably buzzing 24/7 – they'd delivered this folder to her, after all – Wait, how had they gotten into the barracks at night without her sensing them? Well, she was sleeping, but still. "Note to self: install booby traps so that I'll always know when someone comes into my office."

to pay a visit to the twelfth.

* * *

><p>"Where's your hollow mask?"<p>

Nelliel blinked. "Oh, it's gone too?" She felt the top of her head. "No wonder my head felt so light."

"I can relate, don'cha know!" Dondochakka grumbled. "It's been way too long that I've been walkin' 'round with that big ole tikki head on me." Pesche grinned. "It's nice to have my full range of vision back. My right eye was always covered with that cloth."

"Yea, but … they're gone. Competely."

Dune stepped forward. "I'm not an expert on arrancar, but I'm pretty sure you guys are still supposed to have hollow holes, too."

"Well, I'm not an expert on arrancar either, but I've fought them before, both numerous and an espada," Hitsugaya said. "And their reiatsu was quite different than these hollows." He turned to the Ukitake's new lieutenant. "Kurosaki, besides the increase in power, has their reiatsu changed in any other way? Specifically, do you remember if their reiatsu has always felt so like…"

"…Like a soul reaper's," Ukitake said, his eyes widening. "Wait a minute. I think I've got an idea as to what's going on. Ichigo, what happened to the hogyoku when you fought Aizen?"

There were a few surprised gasps within the circle, but Ichigo didn't get it yet. "The hogyoku? Um, Aizen fused with it, remember? So it's probably still with him."

Kuchiki shook his head, realizing what Ichigo didn't. "The report on the hogyoku was that its true power was desire materialization. It rejected Aizen, but it was still in sync with him, and he probably felt a rejection to it as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the hogyoku separated itself from him on its own accord, according to his, and its, suppressed desires."

"…The hogyoku is _sentient_?" Hinamori gasped. Dune perked up. "That's interesting! I wonder how…"

"…SO!" Ichigo said. "Just to be clear, we're not attacking Nel, right? Awesome. So anyway, yea – according to Aizen, at least, the hogyoku's self-aware, sort of. I kinda felt it's reatsu when I fought him as well –"

"We never agreed not to … do something … about these holl – can we even call them hollows?" Hitsugaya muttered.

"Wait a minute," Renji said. "So … you guys are suggesting that the rock Aizen fused with has the power to grant wishes, is sentient, and is strong enough to undo a previously-believed permanent _fusing of its soul_ with Aizen's… and then it teleported itself to Hueco Mundo, and for some unknown reason started to break down, and is now fulfilling the deepest wishes of every hollow that it comes across?"

"Which in Nell's case, happened to be to turn human," Matsumoto said cheerfully, turning to the … shinigami? Arrancar? "I don't think I've introduced myself yet. Matsumoto Rangiku, Lieutenant of squad ten." She stuck her hand out to Nelliel, who shook it cheerfully. "I've heard about you!" "Oh, you have?" Rangiku said, pleasantly surprised. "Sure!" Nel chirped.

"You're Gin's girlfriend!"

Awkward silence.

"…Yes, that sounds about right," Dune said casually. Rangiku slammed her heel into his instep.

Hopping on one foot, Dune yelled. "I was replying to Abarai-san! Anyway, the 'unknown reason' that it teleported itself and started breaking down may have been a manifestation of its own desires." Hinamori started tearing up. "…You mean it's trying to destroy itself? That's so sad! It must be awful, being a lonely rock that's gone through so much..."

Hitsugaya sighed at his old friend's reaction. "So basically, this entire issue is because of a SUICIDAL _ROCK_. Great." He turned to Ichigo.

"We've got a lot of problems here. First of all, if any more hollows come, their deepest desires will be manifested as well. This 'Nelliel' would be the exception, not the norm, and most hollows just desire death and destruction and most of all power. Our first action would be to guard against any other hollows coming this way."

Ukitake nodded. "Kuchiki-taicho, Abarai-san, Dune-san, and Hinamori-san, when this discussion is over, please start patrolling the area. Kill or scare away any hollows that come within a half mile of the site." The four that were addressed nodded to the team leader.

"Next is these three," Hitsugaya said, looking at the Arrancar-turned-shinigami. Ichigo twitched.

"I think they're no danger to us, Hitsugaya-taicho," Ukitake interjected. "We'll watch them for now. If they've really completed the shinigamification process and become soul reapers … why not let them become substitute soul reapers like Ichigo?" Ichigo perked up and gave an uncharacteristic grin. "Eh? Great idea, taicho!"

"You're the leader. If you say so, I'll go with it for now – but we'll have to consult the head captain about it," Hitsugaya warned. "…But with the Central 46 gone, hopefully he'll be willing to make some nonconventional decisions." His thoughts fell to the newly instated visard captain, and the previous substitute shinigami standing next to him.

Nelliel smiled widely. "Nell will be good! I promise!" Behind her, Pesche and Dondochakka high-fived, and Renji and Ichigo were looking relived on the sidelines. Rangiku as well turned back to Nelliel (whom she had ignored since the mention of …) and smiled happily. She had a feeling they'd get along well together – Nelliel was going to love shopping, and they could try on each other's clothes – Rangiku had yet to meet anyone else with about her measurements, so she had never been able to before.

"Now is not the time to relax," Kuchiki warned. "The hogyoku's breakdown may very well affect_ us_ as well."

And that brought an end to the mini-celebrations.

"Well, before we discuss anything further, let's make a report to the twelfth division. It's been long overdue." Ukitake suggested.

Dune looked up thoughtfully. "That's right. Chihiro's probably been waiting for the report, she's nosy like that."

"Eh? Do you know captain Chihiro, taicho?" Hinamori questioned. "I know her brother," Dune said. "We went to the Shino Academy together. Chihiro has always liked spying and intel and whatnot, which is why she decided to enroll in the second squad, despite being too … flashy … to be an assassin…"

* * *

><p>In the twelfth division, Akon blinked. "Did you just hear a sneeze?" he asked the data-retrieving specialist next to him. "No, sir," the tall shinigami replied.<p>

Crouching in a large vent in a crawl-space near the ceiling, Chiaki rubbed her nose. _Someone must be talking about me. _She focused back on the scene below her; the data-retrieval section of the twelfth division in a buzz, trying to collect more information about the status of the Hueco Mundo team.

"Erm, captain?" A small voiced behind her intoned.

"Yea, Kira?" Chiaki said without looking back.

"…What are we doing, exactly?"

"I already told you, remember?"

"All I remember is waking up early and going into the office because you asked for a report from the twelfth division, but I didn't know if you'd wake up early to receive them, and they usually deliver non-standard reports at four-thirty –"

"Wait, you knew when they'd be there?" Chiaki turned around to look at her lieutenant. "Wait, you got up at _four-thirty_ to _receive some reports _that I requested?"

Kira frowned. "If I wasn't there to pick them up, they'd have been knocking on your door. Non-standard reports have to be received in person by a fifth-or-higher seat. And I'm usually up early anyway; there's a lot of paperwork, and if I want to still have time to give the squad members drills and training…" He faltered under Chiaki's wide-eyed expression.

"…Well, as I was saying, the only thing I remember is that when I came back from making some tea, you were there, and you dragged me along with you to _here, _apparently under the pretext of, what was your wording?" He took a deep breath. "_Collecting vital classified information like super awesome spies and being even more super sneaky ninjas and hacking the vents of the twelfth division so we can infer whether the investigation brigade was successful at their objective of recording the unusual events transpiring in the menos forest or whether they got made into yummy shinigami sandwiches by the big bad menos or otherwise bit the dust. _I think at some point you mentioned we'd have to dodge lasers."

"Because the vents would have lasers in them, to protect against intruders," Chiaki explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Security is very lax. There weren't even any moats with sharks to swim across. Or electric eels. Eels would have been fine."

"…Yea…"

"Or, you know, those guys who come up and aim at anything but you so that you can do some acrobatics while not being hit by the bullets, and then you knock them out with more acrobatics because it's fun." She gestured with her hands while she talked.

"…Yea…?"

"Or at least one of those big rooms with tiles where if you stepped on a certain colored tile, the floor collapses."

"…I really have no idea what you're talking about, Captain Chiaki."

Just then, red lights suddenly flickered on all around the main computer, and a screen popped up that read "_message received_".

"Alright! Let's hear it first-hand!" Chiaki cheered quietly. "You're curious about how they're doing in Hueco Mundo, right?"

"Oh. Well, yes, I suppose…"

"Hinamori's in that squad, you know." Chiaki wiggled her eyebrows in a ridiculous manner.

"W-what does that … I mean, yes, I'm concerned about my colleagues. That's all," Kira said, flustered.

"Well, I never suggested anything more," Chiaki said cheerfully. "Why? Are you in love with her?"

"No, I … WHAT? NO! Don't jump to conlmmmph!"

"Sssshhh!"

Chiaki peered over her shoulder (from where she had tackled Kira from her crouching position) to perceive the slight commotion that was going on below. Words and codes were flashing across the screen as the workers jabbered, trying to make sense of the load of information.

"Ukitake-taicho's made a report!"

"What? The hogyoku? But I thought it was fused –"

Words running across the screen_: We failed to include the hogyoku's own sentience in our calculations of its placement in Aizen Sosuke... _

_Ukitake suggests that its breakdown it a manifestation of its own desires._

Akon's voice: "Eh? Some hollow's deepest desire was to become a shinigami? Now that's weird. Well, I'll make the report to Kurotsuchi-taicho – he'll probably be interested in the first report of a completed Shiniigamification."

_Messenger – report to the head captain with the status. Three Shigimagified hollow are staying peacefully with the investigation team._

_Our sensory detection unit is all systems go. It's confirmed that the reiatsu is that of the hogyoku's. Breakdown rate is 0.5% over ten standard increments of time; the process should be completed in approximately three months._

"Three months until the hogyoku is completely broken down."

Akon spoke up, again. "But less than that for Hueco Mundo to become unstable and implode with the amount of pure reiryoku the Hogyoku is emitting."

"If the hogyoku isn't stabilized, Hueco Mundo will be destroyed!"

"Hueco Mundo, destroyed? No way!"

"Well," Chiaki said softly, pulling a stunned Kira back up into a crouch. "I guess we've gotten what we came here for. Now let's go back to the barracks, get some breakfast, and go talk to Kensei."

Kira recovered from his surprise. "Ken – Muguruma-taicho? Why are we consulting him?"

"Why do you think the hogyoku transported itself to Hueco Mundo, of all places?" Chiaki asked in response. Kira frowned.

"I think the hogyoku is more used to Hollow-like reiatsu," Chiaki said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Which means that people will hollow-like reiatsu will be more able to work with it."

"Work?"

"Remember? It's sentient." She began crawling back down the vent. "I suppose it 'likes' hollows or part-hollows more …"

* * *

><p>"Cool. Guys, look what I can make it do."<p>

"Ichigo you idiot, remember what Kuchiki-taicho said about it affecting us!" Renji barked.

"Aw, I can't do that," Matsumoto whined. "Why can't I do that? Ichigo, show me how."

"I dunno. I just sort of picture it. Work with the hogyoku's reiatsu."

"Are either of you listening to me?"

"Um, Ichigo, Renji's right," Ukitake said. "It's dangerous. While that is very entertaining, stop until we know what it'll do."

Ichigo turned back to his captain. He had been controlling the misty, thick reiryoku to form vague pictures; his house, Rukia, Captain Ukitake, Nel's child form, his sword, his sisters…

"Sure thing, Captain," Ichigo said casually, turning to look at the makeshift entrance – or rather passageway … tunnel? – that they had made between the menos forest, where the group was gathered now. And by 'they', think 'the people who knew kido' (since that's what the tunnl's walls was formed of), meaning not Renji and Ichigo, and not Nelliel, Pesche, and Dondochakka (who were quietly minding thier own business and observing the sho Ichiog had just stopped with interest). The large hole was one of the biggest light sources in the dark caverns, although the reiatsu of the hogyoku seemed to give off its own eerie glow.

Ichigo made out the form of Kuchiki Byakuya walking towards their assembly from where he had been tinkering with one of the twelfth division's messaging systems, reporting their situation and strange new findings.

"We just received a message from the twelfth. It's alright to stay here, at least for now. The hogyoku shouldn't affect us," The noble intoned.

"'_Should'_ isn't a guarantee," Hitsugaya said. Most of the other soul reapers nodded gravely in response.

"We'll rotate watches," Ukitake said. "That way, if something happens, at least we won't be caught offguard. Kuchiki-taicho, Shin-san, please start the patrol like we agreed. Kuchiki-taicho, take north, Shin-san, south. Report back in two hours and we'll switch. Meanwhile, let's get some rest. It's early morning by now."

"Oh yea; we couldn't tell since the sky never changes here, it's always night…" Ichigo reminisced. _Actually, now that Captain mentions it, I'm beat. I think I'm too used to the feeling by now… Geeze, it's just one damn thing after another, being a lieutenant! _Still, he couldn't help grin quietly while thinking it, drawing glances from the other three lieutenants. Renji turned away to follow his captain.

And so, Captains Kuchiki and Dune, with Renji and Hinamori following close behind, jumped up through the tunnel into the sands of the night-desert of Hueco Mundo once more.

* * *

><p><em>This is a message from the collaboration of the twelfth and first divisions, reported to all Captain-class and Lieutenant-class officers. We have received a report from the investigation team in Hueco Mundo.<em>

"Finally," Soi Fon said. "It's about time they reported in."

"How come it took so long?" Oomaeda fretted. "D'ya thing something happened? What if they were attacked?"

"Shut up and listen, and you'll find out," Soi Fon responded automatically, darting a sharp glance at her lieutenant. "And don't eat in the office! How many times have I told you? You're getting crumbs all over the floor, you disgusting -!"

_The reiatsu disturbance is revealed to be caused by the breakdown of the hogyoku. Said object is revealed to be sentient and capable of desire manifestation. It is theorized that it teleported itself to the menos forest in a desire to be away from its previous host, Aizen Souske. It displays enough power to separate the fusion of two souls: itself and the soul of Aizen Souske. The menos forest was most likely the targeted area due to the hogyoku's familiarity with hollow reiatsu._

"No way," Isane gasped. "I thought the fusion of two spiritual beings was nearly undoable!"

"Nearly," Unohana said. "It does take a considerable amount of strength. Aizen removed the hogyoku once before, from Kuchiki Rukia before his … leave, if you recall." Isane shuddered. How could she not?

"Quite a situation we've gotten ourselves into," Unohana mused. "And it's not over yet…"

_The acts of the hogyoku so far have been the complete shinigamification of three arrancar, likely also due to the arrancars' desires being manifested. The previous hollows are staying peacefully with the investigation team._

"What? They're allowing hollows to stay with them?" Hisagi said, standing up from where he had been casually leaning against the wall in the Seiretei Bulletin's editing room.

Kensei rubbed his chin without moving from his position, sitting at his new/old captain's desk. "Previous arrancar, technically. The surprise is that the hollows wanted to be soul reapers in the first place, what's up with that? I guess if they're shinigami now, we could just put them in a squad. It'll probably be the eleventh, if their hollow-like personality is unchanged…"

"Wait, you're saying we can just stick _previous hollows_ into the Gotei thirteen?" Hisagi asked incredulously.

Kensei raised his eyebrows at his lieutenant. After moment, Hisagi raised his arm in protest.

"It's not like you and Kurosaki-fukutaicho! Neither of you were hollows in the first place, and you _chose_ to be a soul reaper…"

"Apparently so did these three," Kensei pointed out.

"…True. But the point is, Kurosaki might be rash and inexperienced, but he's got a warm, human personality under it. And you're… you. We don't know what these hollows – previous hollows – we're really going to have to think up a term for them, it's getting annoying. We don't know what these guys are like. They may only want to be soul reapers to become stronger."

"They said they were staying peacefully with the investigation unit, though, and Ukitake's got good judgment." Kensei paused and raised one eyebrow. "'I'm _me'_?"

Hisagi scratched the back of his neck. "Well… yea. I mean… like, you're all… I dunno. You're you, our Captain Muguruma."

"Cute, kid."

"Hey, I'm not a kid anymore! And the message isn't done…"

_Its breakdown is also part of it manifesting its own desires. The reiatsu that it gives off is causing all of Hueco Mundo to become unstable. The breakdown will be complete in three months. However, Hueco Mundo will implode with the force of the reiatsu in two months._

"Wooh," Kyoraku whistled. "Two months till the end of the world. Scary stuff."

"Don't you think you should be a bit more concerned about this?" Nanao said in nervous surprise.

"Nah, don't worry," the pink-garbed captain said, leaning back on the floor with his arms stretched to cradle his head in his palms.

"It's all just fun and games."

**Anyway, sorry for the delay. I'm a bit discombobulated at the moment, both with life and the plot of this story. I've got a bunch of scenes (or plans of scenes) written out, but not connected, and some main plot points need still to be written. Plus I really have to update 'Crazy People These Shinigami' XP**

**Till next time, **

**~Kiwi**


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

**Yes, this chapter is very late =.= ANYWAY - Some more art is up on my profile of Chiaki, Dune, and their lieutenants. A quick review of what's happened so far: **

Captains Ukitake, Hitsugaya, Kuchiki, and Dune and their lieutenants are in Hueco Mundo, investigating the mysterious reiatsu. The reiatsu is revealed to be the hogyoku, which transported itself there and is breaking down due to a manifestation of its own desires. A truce was made between the shinigami and the previous arrancar Nelliel and her 'brothers', since the hogyoku turned them into soul reapers. Finally, the twelfth division gauged that the hogyoku's reiatsu would cause Hueco Mundo to implode within two months, and Chiaki Chihiro set off to consult Kensei with her lieutenant and some sort of plan (maybe).

~~ Featuring Chiaki Chihiro, Kira, Ichigo, Urahara and Chiaki Akira ~~

"Okay, then. Not that one either," Chihiro said as she shut the door to what was basically a supply closet. "Next." They were are the end of the hallway, so Chihiro retraced her steps to the nearest hallway that branched off the one they were in, her lieutenant following her a few steps behind.

"Um, captain…"

"Gah, there's so many doors in this hall too! Why does the ninth division have this many rooms?"

"Hey, captain Chiaki."

"Okay. You start on the left side, I'll do the right. We'll find their office eventually."

"Captain, we're in the squad barracks. This is where the officers sleep," Kira said patiently. "You know, if the fact that ninety percent of the doors we've opened have been bedrooms didn't clue you in on that," he muttered slightly less patiently. Although it was odd that absolutely no one had been in any of the rooms – or even in the entire building. It was still early in the day – usually, people were only reporting for active duty at this time.

Chihiro blinked, oblivious to the suspicious absence of the ninth's soldiers. "But the office has to be here somewhere. In our division, our office is just down the hall from my quarters."

"Yes, but this is the ninth, not the third. It's laid out differently. They have a separate building where the printers and things for publishing the Seiretei Bulletin are, and the normal offices are located in there too."

"Ooooh. Okay. So we just have to find the door that leads to that building, and THEN we find their office." She opened the first door on the right side of the hall. "Is it in here?"

Trying not to twitch, Kira answered, "…No. It's a different building entirely. It's not connected to this building by a door, since the printers make a lot of noise and such and it would keep the people who were trying to sleep in here awake. We have to go outside and walk to the offices."

"Wow. You know a lot about this division. Were you ever in the ninth?" Chihiro said conversationally, while entering the door that she had opened (some officer's bedroom).

"Um, no. It's more of common knowledge… Although you've been away on the patrol corps, so I'm sure you just didn't need to know about the layout of the divisions," he added quickly, hoping that it didn't sound like he was suggesting that Chihiro was ignorant of such things. Although, unsurprisingly, she was oblivious to any negative comments.

Kira followed her into the random bedroom curiously, then stopped as Chihiro opened the window above the tatami bed and climbed out of it. "Well? Come on."

Seeing his hesitation, she pouted from outside the window. "It's quicker that making a hole in the wall. And it destroys less."

Kira sighed and followed her. "…And the thought of going back and using the door had never occurred to you?" he said dryly as he tried not to step on the flowers of the garden they were now standing in.

"Nope. Now let's go find Kensei. I need the opinion of someone with hollow reiatsu!" She said and began to walk to the other, busier building in the ninth's area.

"…Why is that again?"

"Because I do. Look, here's the building. Oh hey they have signs!"

Indeed, there were wooden signs that stated which ways the trailing fields were, as well as the general office, printing rooms, and several other things that Chihiro didn't pay attention to. "Excellent." She began to stride happily down the wide hallway, gaining a few glances from the ninth divisioners that happened to be traversing in it at the moment.

"Kensei's office is this way. Yay."

"Yes. I told you that twenty minutes ago," Kira said.

"Oh. Well, I have short-term memory loss." Chiaki rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"No, you have selective memory loss," said a voice from the doorway behind them. "You only remember what you want to, and forget what's convenient for you to forget."

Chiaki looked back, surprised. "Aki!"

* * *

><p>Byakuya and Dune jumped from the sands atop Hueco Mundo down through their kido-made tunnel and into the Menos forest.<p>

"We're back!" Dune said cheerfully, as Renji and Hinamori landed behind them, and finally a fifth figure jumped into the forest alongside them.

"…And we brought a friend!"

Ichigo and Ukitake looked up in interest from where they had been playing hangman and tic-tac-toe (with a stick on the ground as a drawing tool). Toshiro was busy fiddling with the monitoring equipment, and Rangiku was amusing Nelliel and her 'brothers' with stories of what the Seiretei was like.

"…Urahara?" Ichigo said, surprised.

"How did you get here?" Ukitake said, surprised by the sudden presence of the captain-turned-shopkeeper. "…No, I guess getting to Hueco Mundo wouldn't be a problem for you," he added as an afterthought. "But what are you here _for_?"

"Hmm. I suppose I could say that that I wanted a first-hand look at the destruction of the hogyoku that I created, but that would be a lie~!" Urahara approached Ichigo, a mysterious smile on his lips. "…I'm more interested in the management of a different problem that I helped to create."

Ichigo raised one of his eyebrows; "And what problem would this be, exactly?" Although he had an idea by the look the shopkeeper was giving him from under his hat.

"Tell me … have you heard from your inner hollow lately, Kurosaki-san?" Urahara offered in response.

All of the captains and other lieutenants were now listening, interested, much to Ichigo's confusion. "Huh? No, but it's not like we chat often. I try to suppress him as much as I can, obviously. He's annoying. And, y'know, he wants to take over my body and stuff."

Urahara smiled wryly, and turned to the monitoring equipment that Toshiro was by.

"As you know, the hogyoku is sentient. Not intelligent, at least not by our standards, but alive. And living things can change. When I created it, it responded to all the reiatsu around it; it recognized Aizen's desires and affected the visards, who were then shinigami. Even later, when it was in Kuchiki-san, it affected Kurosaki-san and his friends' wishes to become stronger, when they were human; by then, it had grown stronger, so it didn't need someone to call out to it or even know of its existence in order to work. That proves that as long as someone is near it, and they want something enough, it will affect them; understand?"

"Yeah, so? Ichigo said.

"So, during all this time that it has been in Hueco Mundo, why has it only affected hollows and not the rest of you, who are soul reapers?"

"The twelfth's report said that it shouldn't be able to affect us," Toshiro said suspiciously.

"Even though it affected Inoue and Chad, who had much less reiatsu to work with than you captains have? And that was a long while ago; the hogyoku would have evolved since then, gotten stronger. Here's my theory." Urahara tipped up his hat a bit.

"I think that during its stay in Hueco Mundo, when it was first living on its own outside of Kuchiki-san's body, the hogyoku was rather impressionable. Since it was only surrounded by hollow reiatsu, it grew used to that type of reiatsu; it likes hollow reiatsu now. That's why it teleported itself here after fleeing from Aizen. That's why it's affected Nelliel-san but not the rest of you."

He turned around to look from Toshiro, Matsumoto, Ichigo and Ukitake and faced Byakuya, Renji, Dune and Momo. "…And that's why four captain class soul reapers were sent on a mere reconnaissance mission. Didn't you think it's strange? Recon teams usually have, at the least, two lieutenants on them, even when going into hostile environments like Hueco Mundo."

"So we were sent because there was a high chance of the hogyoku boosting the hollow's abilities," Dune concluded.

"Well, yes and no. I think it's more specific than that." Urahara said, turning once again to Ichigo.

"Not many hollows are a treat to captain-class shinigami, even the hollows that live here in the Forest of Menos. Captains can take a couple of Menos Grande down without too much difficulty. But Adjuchas are harder, and Vasto Lorde are nearly impossible to deal with on one's own, even for the strongest captains. But like I said; after the war with Aizen, the supply of Vasto Lorde and even Adjuchas have been severely depleted. Before Nelliel was found, the Soul society only knew of one Vasto Lorde class hollow that was left. And now it's the only one left, since Nelliel has become human."

"So we're here to guard against one specific hollow?" Renji said. "You'd think the head captain would've told us that beforehand." Silently, his captain agreed with him.

"Guard against? I'd say monitor. Kurosaki-san, you said that you haven't heard from your inner hollow recently?"

"What does that have to do … oh. OH." _Shit, _Ichigo thought.

His inner hollow definitely counted as Vasto Lorde class.

Suddenly, the rest of the team, and even Nelliel and her brothers, looked a lot more tense.

"So … what do we do?" Matsumoto asked nervously.

"Kurosaki-san, why don't you go check in on your hollow? It may be that the hogyoku is actually incapable of affecting him despite it's preference for hollow reiatsu, since it lives inside you and doesn't have its own physical body."

With a sigh, Ichigo nodded and sat down, criss-cross, with Zangetsu in shikai across his knees: Jinzen.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Ichigo looked up. "Guys?"<p>

Renji, Dune, Urahara, Pesche, and Dondochakka seemed to be having some sort of competition involving running up one of the trees of the forest. Ichigo twitched as Pesche fell down, flat on his face, from a sixth of the way of the tree. _He's just as annoying in human form!_

"Hey! Guys?"

Looking around, it seemed like Toshiro and Rangiku had gone up to patrol with Ukitake in Place of Byakuya and Dune, as they weren't present. Nelliel was cheering Renji on, who was now running up the tree, Momo was trying to convince the group of them to stop, and Byakuya was being all airy and noble, ignoring them and staring at the reiatsu monitoring equipment.

"Oi! I think there's something important I should tell you!" Ichigo shouted, annoyed.

To emphasize this, he chucked a rock at Urahara, which hit him on the back of his hat. Because to emphasize things properly, you should always throw hard, preferable large objects at people! (Kids, don't try this at home.)

"…Ow. What is it, Kurosaki-san?"

"My inner hollow's gone."

There was a beat of silence, before Renji spoke. "_Gone?_ What do you mean, gone? Isn't he just hiding from you? Zabimaru did that to me when I first tried to learn bankai –"

"He's not hiding, he's gone! I can't feel his spiritual pressure, and even Old Man Zangetsu said that he just … disappeared." Ichigo sounded uncharacteristically worried.

"Um … isn't that good? Since he's, you know, a hollow and he tries to '_take over you body and stuff',_" Momo quoted.

"But he's a part of me, too!" Ichigo argued. "Your Zanpakutou doesn't just vanish, does it? And I'm more concerned about him being gone then if Zangetsu took a vacation, you know? Urahara, is it possible that the hogyoku 'manifested his desires' or whatever, and now he has a body of his own?!"

"I'm afraid that's exactly the case," Urahara said, tipping his hat back over to cover his eyes, smile gone.

"Well…" Dune said.

"Shit," Renji said.

Again, silently, his captain – and everyone else – agreed.

* * *

><p>"Aki!" Chihiro exclaimed happily. "I didn't think you'd come to visit me this soon!" She waltzed passed a confused Kira to give her brother a glomp-like hug. Then, she suddenly stepped back.<p>

"Wait, actually, why are you here? You're the leader of the Advanced Patrol, you can't just skiv off you duties and come into Seiretei whenever you like."

"…'_Skiv_?'" The slightly shorted, black-haired shook his head. "But that's a surprisingly mature comment, coming from you, Chiako. Wait," He added suspiciously, ignoring his sister's pouts over the disliked nickname, "What do you mean I'm skiving off my duties? You really don't know? Everyone in the Patrol units that was father than the 30th district was called back to the Seireitei. It's…kind of a big deal," he added in a voice that was meant to imply that he had just given a rather large understatement.

"Oh, so _that's_ why no one is at their barracks and barely anyone is around here," mused Chihiro, oblivious to the start her lieutenant had given after hearing Akira's message.

"What? A recall of forces of that magnitude hasn't happened since the Gotei had to attend to the epidemic of souls cropping up after the humans' second world war…"

Akira winced at Kira's mention of World War Two. Freshly graduated from the Sino Academy and an unranking member of the sixth division at the time, Akira had been one of the unlucky shinigami who had been deployed to Hiroshima after the bombs had killed hundreds of thousands. The devastation didn't stop with the living; it left a mob of scared, angry plus souls in its aftermath, which was where the real problems started. The rate at which they turned into hollows was unbelievable. The deployed soul reapers were able to purify less than one-sixth of the plus souls; the rest turned into hollows.

And more than three-fifths of the forces deployed to the world of the living never made it back.

Akira's expression darkened. Assuming it was because of the current situation that called for the recall of shinigami instead of reminiscing about the past, Kira asked, "Excuse us, but we've been out of our own division since before sunrise; is a message was sent to our division, we weren't there to revive it. Could you please tell us what the problem is, Mr… um…"

"Chiaki. Akira Chiaki."

Kira blinked, more confused that he had been before the introduction.

"Oh, right, introductions!" Chihiro chirped, stepping between the two, oblivious as always to the businesslike atmosphere that had momentarily settled.

"Kira, Akira. Akira, Kira. Haha, I think I like this. Okay now that you two know eachother –"

"Wait, wait, what?" Kira said, exasperated.

"Just give up, man," Akira said, shaking his head. "It doesn't get any easier."

"…I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are..?"

"Chiaki Akira. Her older brother. And leader of the Advanced Patrol Corps, as said earlier. " Akira gave a bow to the blond lieutenant.

"It's an honor to meet my sister's second in command. Please put up with her ridiculous antics as best as you can. She's not as irresponsible as she looks – okay, yes she is, but she has a good character nevertheless."

"I see," Kira said, chuckling slightly. "Brother, huh?" He looked from Chihiro – tall, pale and slim, with long blonde hair in pigtails, and then to Akira, who was tan with shaggy black hair and stood at least four inches shorter, plus was much more athletically built. _The only thing they have in common is the pink irises, _he thought, looking from his captain's eyes to her brothers'.

"…I see. Sorry, I didn't see the resemblance,"Kira said, bowing slightly to Akira.

"There isn't any, although we looked more like eachother before she bleached her hair," Akira said, surprised at the return of the bow. "But it's not like we're any more related to eachother than everyone who forms a family in the Rukongai is."

"Ah, so it's like Captain Hitsugaya and Hinamori-kun, then. I see."

"Really, Aki," Chihiro said. "Why are you here? And you wanna come see Kensei with us?"

"I doubt Captain Muguruma is even in his division now. We're kind of in a state of emergency, after all. Actually, I came to find you; you're third seat's in a state of panic, trying to find you. You seriously haven't been in to your office since dawn?"

"State of emergency?" Kira asked, worried. "Are you talking about the hogyoku's effect on Hueco Mundo?"

"Hogyo-what?"

"Ah, nevermind." _Perhaps that information was classified for captains and lieutenants. Shoot,_ Kira thought.

"Alright, listen – especially you Chihiro. _Stop switching those signs around and pay attention!"_

Chihiro looked up, guilty, from where she had been rearranging the ninth division's signs telling where each building was. "I'm listening!"

"Fine. Look, I don't know about anything in Hueco Mundo, but I think this may be a more serious problem," Akira said, lowing his head with his eyes still trained on Chihiro, thereby giving her a rather effective glare, under which she squirmed sheepishly.

_More serious than the end of the world due to Hueco Mundo imploding in two months? _Kira thought dryly. _Unlikely._

"A Vasto Lorde Class hollow that looks almost exactly like Lieutenant Kurosaki has appeared in the world of the living."

_Alright, I stand corrected. _

_Wait, WHAT?_

**So, yea. That happened. Anyway, if it's not too much trouble, leave a review, please! It doesn't matter if you're logged in or not :3 See you next time.**


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